the delta sun burns bright and violet
by Poisoned Scarlet
Summary: MERMAID AU. Falling hard for the mermaid he was supposed to hunt was not part of the plan but, then again, he was never one for plans anyway.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater nor the lyrics to the song Heartlands (cover) by Bell X1.

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlett_

_"OHHHH! I'll drive the get-away, and you bring the glueeee!" _One of his friends sang drunkenly, using a bottle of whiskey as a microphone. He stopped suddenly, face scrunched in concentration. "Er. Wait. No, that's not how it goes! Wait, I remember now!"

"Black Star, that's the _fourth_ time you've said that!"

"No, I got it this time!" Black Star insisted. "I'ma start over! I DEDICATE THIS SONG TO MY FUTURE GODDESS...whoever she is! HAHA!" He continued his ridiculous song from the top, his voice hitching whenever he swallowed down his belches, and despite the laughs he received, he only sang louder.

Soul Evans, sprawled on the sofa pushed against the wall, blew out another weary mutter of _uncool _under his breath when others began to join him on the drunken babble.

The rocking of the boat was hardly felt by him now despite the storm that battered the sails outside. He could hear thunder boom in the dark pewter sky, wind and rain rattle the windows and churn the bitter cold sea until their boat rocked dangerously; water washing violently upon the deck, sometimes managing to spill inside the warmth of the lower cabins. But it was nothing Soul was not used to already although he admitted to being terrified out of his mind during his first storm a year and a half ago.

Given, it had been far more furious and twice more violent than the one thundering outside currently. It had been quite a rough night, even their Captain Sid Barett had said so when he reminisced on the day that brought them all together. Soul remembered feeling completely out of his element—he'd even regretted acting so rashly and leaving his warm and decidedly safer home for this new reckless but more _adventurous_ one.

His reasons for abandoning his parents and everything that was entitled to someone of the prestigious Evans family was simple although it was a topic that he refused to breach again, even to his close friend Black Star. Soul couldn't match up to the standards set before him by dozens of previous generations and, knowing so, had nothing more to offer except a letter of goodbye and a warning not to go looking for him—more for his brother than his remote parents. His parents had invested a lot in him—thousands of dollars in tutors, instruments, music books and of course music itself. He had spent hours upon hours of practice with his piano yet those painstaking hours never brooked the results his parents hoped for.

He always fell below the standard.

So he had only one escape, given he had no other skills: become a Weapon, as he'd been the only one in his family to be gifted with the weapon gene. He liked to think _that _was why he never succeeded with his music career, as Black Star chugged down the rest of the bottle, because he was never _meant_ to be a musician. There had always been a wildness in him, a thirst for adventure and freedom that his parents never understood and were often unnerved by.

Of course, his parents were not the adventurous type. They would never let the thought of leaving their quaint manor, with a stone seawall curved around it that gave way to the gold sand of the beach. They would never dare to tread past the fence that surrounded their spacious backyard, where flowers grew in abundance, tended to and nurtured by the gardeners and his mother when she was in the mood for nurturing. They would snort at the thought of leaving a place where the mornings were soft and thin fog skimmed the ground unlike his usual bitterly cold mornings where mist would cover the tumultuous ocean as far as the eye could see. Sometimes he awoke trembling, his lips blue and his face pale and his stomach grumbling loudly because he had been denied dinner last night for a screw up out on deck.

His parents would _never_ sacrifice their luxurious lives for something like this, where every meal was earned and where respect and loyalty was something that was held above all else. Even as he watched his fellow crewmates roar and have a laugh at Black Star, who was now swinging play shots at Ox, another friend, his parents would be horrified by their display and would never be able to understand the brotherly undercurrents that laced their shouts and laughs and even threats. They would be incapable of understanding that they would never really hurt each other because family looked out for one another—this he'd come to learn the hard way, after a good scuffle and stern talking to by the Star himself.

Nearly two years he'd been gone and not a single letter he'd received. Sometimes he brooded on it, wondering if his parents had really thought so little of him. But then he would remember he didn't leave them any sort of contact information—he'd barely left them with a viable reason for his sudden disappearance. Only a formal goodbye and a promise that he would return someday. He mentioned he'd put his weapon skill to good use but hadn't said where. So really he had only himself to blame for the emptiness in his mailbox as well as his heart.

"SOUL, GODDAMMIT! Get those _damn _things out of your ears!"

"I'm not on duty!" Soul shot back but did pull his earphones out of his ears, sitting upright with a grumble. "What'd'ya want, Sid?"

"There should be a _Captain_ somewhere in there," he growled at him. Soul gave him a blank look. Sid sighed in defeat. "Go check the sails for me,I'm hearin' something loose out there!" he ordered, holding a casserole of mac and cheese. Kilik, their cook, followed close behind with the plates and cups and a shit-eating grin on his face. Ah, so he'd been the one who suggested Sid should ask him to go check the damn sails. He'd get him back later.

"What? It's pouring out there, no way!" Soul complained. "It's probably just the wind!"

"Don't smart mouth me, kid!" Sid sharply warned. Soul rolled his eyes but knew better than to snark back at the Captain. Too much. "I know the sound of a loose turnbuckle when I hear it! Go check and I'll let you have seconds! I doubt Black Star will be eating tonight…" He sighed when said man toppled off the table during a particularly rough tilt of the boat. He did not get back up.

"Aye, don't go tripping over your feet now, Scythe Boy!" A fellow Weapon, Clay, jeered and the others followed with chuckles. "Wouldn't want ya' to go overboard!"

"Fuck off, at least I didn't get my blade stuck in the mast like you did!" He smirked back and the laughter turned on Clay, who jutted his lip out in defeat and mumbled something about that being below the belt.

With that settled, Soul took his glass of whiskey with him to his room. He placed the cup on his nightstand, frowning when it nearly slid off it from the boats violent rock. He pushed it back in place and quickly changed into warmer wear, zipping up his thick water-proof jacket and flipping the hood over his head to ensure the rain didn't totally soak him. He only took another mouthful of his drink before he tossed the rest out in the sink. He'd rather do kitchen duty for three weeks than drink himself silly in front of all these bastards. When he came back out, he found them all roaring in laughter at another tale Ox Ford was telling about his femme fatale sweetheart Kim.

"Hurry up, Soul!" Sid shouted, already serving the rowdy bunch of boys. "Before _this _glutton here," he swatted Clay's hand away from the casserole with a spoon, "eats your share! Again!"

"I don't think he'd mind, neh, Soul?"

"Hands off my food, Sizemore!"

"You're looking a little tipsy, maybe you should just skip out on the cheese!" Clay suggested.

"You eat my food, I throw you overboard," Soul glared.

"Eater lives up to his name," Harvar murmured with an amused smile.

"Oh, so you guys meant _this _kind of eat?" Clay gasped with mock-innocence then laughed, grinning mischievously. "But of _course _you guys meant this! What was I thinking? Like Soul could get a chick in bed even if she's the easiest bitch on the block!"

"_Clay_," Soul snarled, about to march on over to put the little shit in place when Kilik stood up, waving him back with a hearty laugh.

"C'mon, Clay, chill out! Soul's been a little blue lately! Cut 'em some slack, will you?" Kilik gave Clay meaningful look and the man grumbled a bit but promised he'd leave Soul's share alone and stop making jokes about Soul's pathetic sex life.

Soul just rolled his eyes at both of them and made his way back out... only to wish he'd put up more of a fight the instant he did. It was absolutely _freezing_. Soul braced himself against the harsh winds and icy rainfall. His boots screeched against the slick wood as he walked and he held on tightly to the wall as the water rose and fell below. His ears caught the noise that Sid had been concerned about and he ran to it when there was a calm, his fingers gripping the loose turnbuckle in seconds. The bloody thing always gave them trouble and the last time they'd ignored it, it had caused some unsightly problems. Soul tightened it again, shielding his face from an onslaught of sea spray when the tide slammed against the side of the boat. His hood flew off his head and he cursed, trying to get it back on, but in seconds his hair was flat down his head and he could feel water dibble down his back and seep into his shirt.

Stupid sea. Stupid storms, stupid cold, stupid Captain, stupid Clay. He could honestly say this job he'd gotten himself involved in was something of a love/hate thing. He was all for it at times but could hate it on a dime. There were other jobs Weapons like him could do: maybe something in the forest or joining the DWMA to hunt the _real _big and nasty things that haunted the most daunting places of earth. But he'd chosen a more nautical route, more out of urgency to get away from his parents than because he wanted to hunt the nasties that lurked beneath blue waters. It'd been his decision, though, so all he could do was suck it up and deal with it.

_It'll be over in a couple of months_, he thought as he made his way back to the hatch. Weapons who took the sea route could only be in service for two years before they needed to find employment elsewhere: such was the law and Soul wasn't about to try his luck by squeezing in a third year. _Maybe I can join the DWMA and hunt Kishin—sounds way better than drowning out here cuz I fucking slipped or some stupid shit like that_. His eyes caught movement and he looked, staring out at the violent sea that hurled their boat. Streaks of lightening speared the sky, the boom of thunder was deep and reaching, but the seas were clear of any life. He figured it was the trick of the eye but then he saw a head bob in the waves.

_Holy shit, is that a person? _He thought, eyes wide. He rushed to the gunwale and searched the sea but he found nothing. He cursed and had been about to run inside to report what he'd seen when the head popped up again, closer this time, and now he could see that it was a girl, which made things about a hundred times worse.

"Hey! HEY!" He saw dark blonde hair when lightening scratched the sky and when he blinked she was gone again and that convinced him to go the fuck inside and get help. Soul very well scared the living crap out of all the others when he shouted there was a girl in the water.

"A _girl?_" Sid shouted, alarmed. "Shit! Move it, Evans, there's a girl out there whose probably drowning as we speak!"

Sid was one of the first ones out, barely having time to pull on his jacket and boots before he was stepping into the bitter cold of a storm full-swing. Soul followed closely behind, the others running into their rooms to change into better-suited attire than boxers and shirts.

"Where'd you see her?"

"Over there! That way!" Soul shouted, an eye shut against the particularly violent downpour. "You see her anywhere?"

Sid leaned over the rail and Soul saw his hands clench into fists, his shoulders and back going rigid. "Yeah, I see her…" he replied, sounding more gruff than panicked like he expected. "I didn't think we'd be seeing any of _them_ so soon. Whatever they're doing so close, I don't like it, and taking things for chance isn't the type of man I am!"

"What're you talking about? Who's _them?_" Soul asked, watching the girl move with the waves without any hurry. Another strike of lightening and he thought he saw green eyes. "Sid?"

"Mermaids," Sid grimaced.

"Mermaids?" Soul repeated, having heard tales of them from the others and even Sid himself. He'd warned against them and their treacherous ways and cautioned not to let themselves be enchanted by their dulcet songs. They were scornful, he'd said, and no matter how beautiful or enrapturing they might appear, their goal was to lure them close to the waters edge and drown them. Many had fallen for mermaid traps and rare was the sailor who managed to capture the _mermaids_ interest.

There were legends that said mermaids could either bring a man the greatest agony or the greatest pleasures. But they said the man needed to be a good man, with pure intentions at heart, and Soul admitted that in this world the worst of the worst were often the ones toughest to venture into the seas. It didn't help that mermaids were finicky things, malicious and brutal, so more often than naught they hurt rather than loved. But it was that shred of hope that they could love and _love_ _forever_ that lured a man into their honeyed trap, Sid had told them. It was better to plug their ears and ignore the stirrings than to take a leap of faith.

Mermaids were something that Weapons like him hunted as well, Soul thought without remorse. And if they'd already reached mermaid territory, no doubt Sid would be hauling out their best equipment and giving them another lecture on _not_ removing the earplugs lest they be led to their deaths. Mermaids had not been on their hunting agenda, Soul thought, but if they became an issue he was sure the other guys would have no problem hunting them, too.

"We weren't supposed to encounter them for another month or so," Sid frowned. "They must've widened their range. Get back inside, we don't need this one to start her song. Warn the others we've got mermaids on our hands while I ask Kidd to steer us away from here for the night. With any hope, they won't cause any problems while we hunt for serpents!"

Soul nodded but not without giving that girl one last look. Another flash of lightening and she was gone; gone under the rough waves and to wherever. There was a sense of restlessness, almost guilt, at the thought of using his scythe to impale a creature who had never wronged him and whose nature it was to lure in lecherous and unworthy men to their deaths.

But this is what he signed up for, as he warned the others of mermaids. He took particular notice in Harvar, a Spear weapon, who fisted his hand in what Soul thought was anticipation. Not that he blamed him: Soul and every other weapon on the boat, save for Black Star and Kidd, the second in command, had been waiting for this: the chance to hunt a mermaid and bloody well survive. A year and a half they'd been crewmates and not once had they seen mermaids—mostly because their objectives were to hunt down other sea monsters and Sid steered clear of them. Not anymore, if they reached mermaid territory already.

Just bringing in _one_ mermaid could bring them more money than he could begin to count. And even if Soul wasn't in it for the money (although having some extra cash was always nice), that didn't make his ambition any less true.

This would be it: he _would_ hunt down a mermaid and he'd very well survive it and return home with his head held high, able to say that there was actually _one_ _damn thing _he was good at.

* * *

**A/N:**So, this was originally Shi's idea! The whole mermaids/weapons idea, anyway. I just took that concept and gave it my own little twist :)

_Scarlett_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Soul Eater.**  
**

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlett**  
**_

They spotted some mermaid peering at them cautiously from afar over the next few days. They hadn't sang their songs yet although Kilik swore he heard one from the distance one night. Sid had advised to keep their ears plugged and their hearts locked at all times. Soul had no problem with the earplug bit: he often plugged his ears with his own music even though it got him smacked on the head because it made him deafer than Black Star when he was on a spiel of his mightiness. The heart bit was a little harder, not because he was a man easily swayed by the often capricious woman specie but because the thought of killing something with a human face was a hard pill to swallow.

Soul saw that mermaid from the stormy night a few times over the days. He knew it was her because he'd seen a flash of green that night and she was the only one with eyes greener than the leaves at the height of summer and with hair as dark as bronzed gold, always parted to fall down her creamy shoulders like low-tied pigtails. She often watched him and it unnerved him although no one else seemed to notice her. She always disappeared whenever someone was nearby so he'd taken to hanging out with the guys a lot more—because, really, the last thing he needed was to be on some mermaids hit list. That would just be the fucking icing on the cake.

What he didn't like was how sometimes, when his thoughts were hazy from the hot day and his muscles ached with exhaustion from so many days at sea, how he'd _always _look to the sea and look for her. He actively _looked _for her, which should have told him something was horribly wrong already, and when she popped her head out of the water, he felt more at ease. It should have the opposite effect. Her appearance should induce horror or disgust but instead it eased him and, when she didn't appear, it always had him on edge about her whereabouts.

It was stupid and made no sense.

_He _was stupid and made no sense.

And, well, fuck, that wasn't anything new.

"My brother was killed by a mermaid," Harvar offhandedly said that afternoon, breaking Soul's moody thoughts. Harvar had shifted his hand into the tip of the spear and the unbearably hot sun glinted off the gold surface. "He was always a dreamer and he thought he had found his soul mate with a mermaid." His hand became human again and Soul wiped sweat off his brow, shoving the mop into the bucket as Harvar continued to keep look out. "He was a fool."

"It's in their nature," Soul shrugged. "Sid said if any of us fell for it, we'd turn the boat around immediately."

"What help would that be?" Harvar asked, more to himself than Soul. He stared out at sea, his eyes hidden behind a pair of aviator shades. Soul could not read his expression, much less his flat voice. "Once you hear the song, you're done for."

"Being on land helps weaken the spell," Soul said. "And Sid said something about drinking a special brew that'll help break it altogether."

"Brew? Do you actually believe that?"

"Fuck no," Soul snorted. "Being on land should be enough to come to your senses. It's not like you'll _actually_ go back if you know she's going to drown you."

"That's where the irony lies, Soul," Harvar told him, darkly. "Despite knowing what awaits you, you still return."

Soul gave him a measured look before he went back to mopping the floor, as it was his duty today. "You have some sort of vendetta against mermaids?"

"Only one," Harvar replied, casually. "I don't have much care for them, though. I'm more interested in the sea serpents we were sent to hunt."

"I'd rather hunt down a mermaid than a serpent," Soul deadpanned.

Harvar quirked a smile at that. "My ambitions are high."

_Or you're fucking crazy,_ Soul thought but said nothing. He continued with his tasks for the day in silence and, when he was done, he stretched and checked his arms for any signs of a sunburn. Nothing except he didn't think he could get any darker than he already was. He'd been pale-skinned and a skinny pathetic thing when he first came into the care of Sid but now his skin had a healthy golden glow and he'd packed on somemuscle. His skinny ass older brother could suck it: Soul could punch a hole in the wall without any trouble and he was sure his brother would break a knuckle and not even make a dent.

Sid worked him to the bone and hunting the many creatures of the sea took a lot of effort and strength; plus, it helped to train with Black Star, the buffest one in their crew. But Soul focused more on his skills as a scythe than brute strength. It was more than learning how to morph blades out of your body, there was a technique to be learned and Soul had done his best to learn by watching others—especially Clay, since he was a sword type. Soul could now say he had his own technique down, after months of being the bitter loser during the first year, although full-weapon morphing was still out of his reach. He was probably doing something wrong, if it hurt that much to try and draw his scythe out from his body, but the other Weapons were pretty useless with giving him advice. They were about as articulate as a blushing schoolboy confessing to his crush and Harvar always made him feel like a fucking retard when he asked.

But he could wrangle himself a serpent if it came down to it.

Mermaids should be a piece of cake.

He thought about that mermaid with the green eyes and smirked. If she wanted him dead, the bitch had another thing coming.

"EATER! GET THOSE _DAMN_ THINGS OUTTA' YOUR EARS AND GET DOWN HERE!" Sid roared from somewhere on the other end of the boat.

"I WASN'T LISTENING TO MUSIC!"

"EATER, DAMMIT!"

"Tch," Soul grumbled.

"You better start walking," Harvar smirked, mildly amused.

"In a second!" Soul snapped, yawning widely and taking his sweet time. He gave the sky one last sleepy look before he headed over to see what Sid wanted, aware that Harvar had yet to remove his eyes from the sea and he was scratching the paint on the boat with the tip of his spear-head hand. He hadn't made it five steps when Harvar suddenly stood up, leaping off the roof and landing on the freshly mopped floor solidly.

"Soul, wait."

"What? Sid's gonna' rip me a new one if I don't get down there in the next five seconds," Soul reminded, a touch annoyed.

"Mermaids, over there!"

Soul followed his sight and stared at the numerous heads the bobbed out of the water in shock. Sure, they'd come up for air once in awhile but never this many and never at the same time. He thought he saw one part her lips to sing but he was already running to Sid.

"SID!" Soul slid to a stop and the dark-skinned man looked up, about to threaten to break that piece of shit MP3 player of his when he saw the earplugs dangling around his neck. "Something's wrong. There's at least fifteen mermaids out front!"

"What? If this is another one of you and Black Star's pranks..." Sid dangerously warned.

"I'm not _that _much of a shit," Soul deadpanned and Sid snorted but stood up, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"That's unusual..." Sid set his jaw and ordered his ass back to where Harvar was, reminding him to plug his ears before he did. Soul obeyed but not before casting a troubled look at Sid, who had his lips pressed together grimly and his brows set with worry. He knew mermaids were a major concern at sea but, hell, Sid hadn't been _this_ worried about the sea serpents and they were said to be more vicious than mermaids! Was there something Soul was missing or did everyone on the damn boat have drama with mermaids?

"Don't let your guard down," Harvar told him when he returned, shifting his forearm into that of a spear. "We're finally going to hunt a mermaid."

Soul turned up the volume full-blast on his iPod and flicked out his wrist, summoning his scythe. "About time, it was starting to get boring."

"WHERE ARE THE MERMAIDS? THEY MUST FEAST THEIR SIGHTS UPON MY GODLY FORM!" Black Star boomed as he arrived, always flashy and never quiet. "No fighting, please, there's enough of me to go around!" He laughed outright, grinning like an idiot and oblivious to the tension that swelled the hot sea air.

"Black Star, shut up and get over here!" Kilik shouted, shaking his head but not without a grin at the guy. "You heard Sid, better get those plugs in your ears before you go jumping in the water!"

"HA! As if some _woman's _gonna' enchant the great ME!" He boasted, thumbing at himself. "More like I'll be the one enchanting HER! HAHA!"

"Moron," Harvar scoffed.

"Soul, what is the situation?" Kidd asked in his usual controlled voice, coming to stand beside him and not dictating a single word to the others. It was simply how he was: efficient, remote, to the point with little tolerance of small-talk of any sort. He was the second in command and more often than naught gave out the orders while Sid got his hands dirty. He mingled with the guys at times, when he grew bored of watching the seas and steering the boat, but more often he could be found in the captains quarters planning for months ahead.

Soul lowered the volume on his iPod. "What?"

Kidd huffed out a small chuckle at his blank look. "Ah, listening to music again. I'll excuse you today because we have mermaids on our hands. I asked of the situation."

Soul nodded at the various mermaids who bobbed in the sea. "_That's _our problem. They came out of nowhere and they haven't sung yet. They're just floating there."

Kidd observed them clinically. "They're either preparing to capsize the boat or they are warning us against something. And, considering they have _not_ yet capsized the boat nor sung, I presume it is the latter."

"_Mermaids_ wouldn't help us," Harvar sneered.

Kidd looked at him mildly. "Mermaids are known to be helpful from time to time. They would not consider our boat a hunters boat, however. It's smaller than most so they probably assume we're unlucky fishermen. If so, I intend to keep it that way," Kidd's eyes sharpened. "At least until I can be sure we can win."

"Can we?"

"Not with this many, they'd capsize the boat. But don't worry too much, Sid and I have been in these types of situations before. There is something out there they do not want us to come across, be it for our safety or theirs, so it's best to heed their warning for now."

"We should just _hunt_ them," Harvar suggested bluntly. "Get rid of them before they realize who we really are."

Kidd spared him a look. "Patience. Keep a look out and do not provoke them. I need a few words with Sid." He was gone again and Soul returned his sights to the seas, searching for a familiar pair of verdant eyes.

"Hey, we should probably not show them we're weapons," Soul muttered and shifted his scythe back into his skin. Harvar did the same seconds later.

"If they _are_ warning us against something, what could it be?" Harvar slit his eyes when the mermaids began to cut a path for them. The two men could hear the others gather behind them, ready to fight if need be, but the mermaid's watched with cool detachment as they crossed. Soul had to admit, they were all gorgeous and with a pull unlike any he'd ever felt before, but he didn't let his eyes linger on any single one for too long. He was already on _one_ mermaids hit list, being on another's would be only more uncool.

"Hey, are they topless?" Kilik grinned widely. "Sid, you never told us they were naked!"

"They live in the sea, what'd'ya' expect?" he shouted back, more focused on the map spread before him than the men's shallow excitement.

"Topless, what?" Clay gaped. "Lemme' see!"

"Naw, man, you're still too young for this!" Kilik laughed and pushed Clay back when he tried to get past him. However the man managed to make it to the edge and his eyes became as wide as saucers when they latched onto the generous bosom of one and then two and then _three_.

"_Boobies_," he sighed, dreamily.

"Head outta' the gutter, you dipshit!" Sid snapped and grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tossed him on the floor next to Soul. "Any closer and she'd grab and drown you!"

"I don't mind being drowned," Clay said as he rubbed his sore head, grinning goofily. "As long as it's between those _tits!_"

Soul snickered when Sid kicked his foot into Clay's back and told him to shut up before he got mopping duty again.

The mermaids kept their treacherous song to themselves, much to the crews curiosity, and they made it past them without any other trouble. Soul looked back and saw them disappear beneath the waves, going back to wherever mermaids went for comfort. He wondered if that green-eyed mermaid was one of the ones in the group and, if not, why the hell she wasn't. He looked around again, frowning when he didn't see her anywhere. That was weird, she'd always popped up to watch him before and now when she had the perfect opportunity to, she was not there. Some timing she had, Soul chuckled to himself.

"HA! THEY SAW ME AND THOUGHT TWICE ABOUT BOTHERING US!" Black Star boasted, smugly.

"More like they saw you and took pity!" Ox smirked and burst out laughing with the others when Black Star steamed.

"Alright guys!" Sid hollered, and they quieted to hear what he had to say. "Mission starts now. We're heading into serpent waters, that's what the mermaids were trying to warn us about. Keep a look out for them and don't let your guard down—serpents like pulling men overboard," Sid grinned at the nausea on Clay's face. "Catch three and we can head back home!"

"How much you wanna' bet I can catch three in a week?" Black Star whispered to Soul as Sid continued to talk.

"A _week?_ Yeah, right."

"What? You scared you'll lose?" he taunted.

"Fine, let's bet on it: fifty bucks says you can't," Soul smirked and the man grinned viciously, both shaking on it before Sid snapped at them to pay attention.

The boat continued onto stiller waters for another hour, the mermaids long gone by now and the others having taken refuge inside for lunch and some TV. Soul lingered outside for the time being, leaning on the rail, while Harvar continued his lookout up on the roof of the cabin. Soul stifled a yawn in his hand and his sleepy eyes caught waving from afar. Sleep was quickly forgotten when he saw who it was: that green-eyed mermaid. She was back and... looking panicked He furrowed his brows at her frantic waving and then his eyes dropped to the water, freezing when he saw a great mass breach the sea surface and curl beneath the hull.

"Uh…hey, Harvar?"

"Yeah?"

"Y'know how you said you wanted to kill a serpent?"

"Yes?"

"Here's your chance," Soul gulped and backed away from the boats edge as the creature rose from the water with disturbing silence and opened its jaws in a head-jarring screech, tilting the boat to one side dangerously. Harvar's eyes bulged before determination slid back into place and he held out his hand, drawing out his spear weapon from his body in a flash of light.

The serpent was lighter than the ones Soul had seen in photos, something caught between gray and white, and it was _not_ as big as it could be. But it was still a sizeable beast, could probably wrap itself in their deck twice if they managed to haul it in—_dead_, thank you very much—but nothing a Weapon couldn't kill.

The screech had attracted the attention of the others and soon everyone was outside, Sid in the background barking out orders and Kilik very calmly saying he'd in the kitchen experimenting with different sauces because he was getting too old to deal with crap like this. Soul could spot Kidd by the wheel, slowing the boat, his face set coolly, and then Clay was sliding a blade out of his body to the hilt—until he could grip it in his hand, a flash of light that made the serpent hiss and rock their boat.

Clay, along with Harvar, had already mastered full-weapon transformation. Soul was still unable to completely draw out his scythe from his body—it hurt him and the times he _nearly_ detached the scythe from himself, the pain became too unbearable and the blade would ricochet back inside of him hard enough to bring him to his knees. He would have to make do with partial transformation, which didn't settle well with him at all.

"Hey, Harvar, you ready man?" Clay grinned violently.

"You lure it closer, I'll bring it down! Soul, back up!" Harvar told him from over his shoulder.

"Got it," Soul nodded.

"WHOOHOOO!" Black Star grinned wickedly, twirling his steel chain scythe with a vigor usually reserved for drunken nights. He had an arsenal of weapons kept in a chest in his room but it seemed that for a serpent, Black Star preferred to go with his usual chain scythes. "AS IF SOME OVERSIZED SNAKE'S GONNA' BEAT THE MIGHTY ME!"

Soul kept to the sides, not about to try his luck. He said he could take one on but that didn't mean he was about to test that theory. He was nowhere near suicidal even if Clay liked to tease him about being broody. Shit, he just got ahold of his scythe technique and he was not going to muck things up by getting himself killed before he could master full-transformation. Weapons died everyday, especially on sea, although most causalities laid on land with the Kishin, the most vicious of supernatural creatures yet. Soul figured he'd have better luck slaying these things on land, at least there he knew he couldn't fall overboard. The serpent had an advantage here, an advantage Soul didn't want to give it the satisfaction of.

Things had gone well, for the most part. They worked well as a team and Soul had even been able to make himself useful and slice part of the serpent as a distraction while the others tried to bring it in for a strangle. Its skin and its teeth were of particular value so Sid hollered for them to pay specific attention to the head as they wrangled with the beast. This would be the first of three of the things they were being paid to capture before they could head back to the moor and go their separate ways.

"Two more and you owe me fifty, Soul!" Black Star shouted as he twirled his chain scythes.

"Chill out, Star, it's only one!"

"Another one and you're screwed!"

"Heh," Soul grinned as Harvar twirled his spear and stabbed it into the head, making sure to cut through until the tip of his spear hit the smooth surface of the deck. "We agreed on three. I'll start shitting it when you reach three."

Things went wrong when Black Star sliced off its head but the things twitching tail managed to wrap around Harvar's arm, bringing him overboard. At least he would have, had Soul not darted forward and grabbed his wrist before he could. But now he was halfway out of the boat and Harvar was being dragged down by the weight of the rest of the serpent.

"C'mon, climb _up_," Soul hissed.

"I can't," he grunted back. "My _shoulder_," he gnashed his teeth and let out a pained grunt. Harvar's shades were still on his face, miraculously, and Soul wished he would just climb the fuck up because he was slipping and he sure was hell wasn't going to dive into serpent infested waters for this son of a bitch.

Turned out he spoke too soon.

They both slipped over the edge and hit the water hard. Soul surfaced seconds after, coughing and cursing, but Harvar didn't and he knew why. And fuck, he did not want to go back down for the guy but the crew was family so that meant Harvar was family and although Soul hated his own family that didn't mean he was against starting anew. And he was not going to screw up with this new family, either.

So he dived back down, swimming deeper and deeper until his ears popped. And he grabbed Harvar by his shirt and pulled him up, exhaling precious air as he did, and then his lungs began to burn urgently. He cursed, panicking, struggling to pull Harvar up but the snakes grip on him was tight and its dead weight like an anchor. That urgency nearly won, made his head start to feel fuzzy and eyes start to see black, but then there were other hands on him—soft, small, and Soul turned sharply to find bright green eyes.

He screamed, a blow of bubbles and his last breath. She grabbed him from under his arms and pulled up, urgently, and when she saw what he was holding onto, she swam down and hurriedly tugged the serpents trail off the mans arm with some difficulty. With that weight gone, and Soul slowly starting to go as well, she pulled both men up as quickly as she could. Within seconds, Soul was breaching the surface, coughing and hacking and gulping in deep breaths greedily while she stayed under water.

"Harvar," Soul wheezed, shaking out his hair so it didn't get in his eyes. "Harvar!" Soul shoved Harvar up, cursing when he didn't respond and only sank back down. "Shit…HE'S NOT BREATHING!" Soul shouted hoarsely and soon after Black Star and the others threw a lifebuoy down at them. He hefted Harvar onto it and shook him again, barely getting a response. "Bring him up first!" Soul shouted and he helped them lead the man up over the top. Once he had been pulled over the edge did Soul sigh in relief but he quickly tensed when he felt the water swish by his legs. Then he felt someone rise uncomfortably close behind him, close enough that he felt their skin rub against his back.

He turned, coming face to face with the green-eyed mermaid. She was beautiful, he couldn't deny that, and it almost took him by surprise just how much. Her skin was porcelain and perfect and her eyes were as deep as he thought them to be; a dark sea green, glowing bright with the rays of the sun. Her hair was lighter under the sun and long, strands of it spreading over the waters surface like a blooming flower. She had soft pink lips, an elegant swans neck that led down to…his eyes quickly shot up because _holy shit_ she wasn't wearing anything to cover her tiny tits. But they were _nice_ tits, perky and pink and round—and he swam the hell away before he could let himself be swayed and practically shouted for those idiots to _save him because a fucking mermaid was about to drown him!_

"I'm _not_ going to drown you, you twit!" She glared.

Her voice was pretty, too, a high tinkling sound that roused the inner musician in him. But he refused to be swayed—like a stupid mermaid was going to make him go gaga, even if his hands already burned to touch those perky tits of hers.

"_Yeah_, and the suns blue!" Soul sneered.

The mermaid pursed her lips in reply. "If I _wanted_ to drown you, I would have done it already! I would have let you sink with that man!"

"Why didn't you? What do you want, huh, I've seen you around a lot," he growled, raising a hand to reveal a scythe.

She startled at that, jerking back in surprise and apprehension. "You're _a weapon?"_ She asked, a lot less confident now.

_Good_, he thought with wicked glee, perhaps he'd have his first mermaid sooner than he thought. But he found himself hesitating when she gave him that startled doe-like look again—the one that was so human, so scared, that _dammit_ he wanted her to _do_ something. React, attack, hell, _give him a dirty look _so he had a reason to arc his blade across her neck. But she only stared at him, swallowing as his scythe grew longer and sharper. She didn't even try to swim away, the idiot, she just floated there and stared at his scythe and then back at him with that same wide-eyed look of curiosity and fear. Looking so cute, so completely harmless.

_Aw, fuck me, _Soul thought with an inward groan. _Stop looking at me like that. _

As if she could read his mind, her head bowed a bit more and she looked up at him from her lashes.

_Shit. Damn cute mermaid. I'm onto you, _he scowled at her as if she had wrong him someway, which she certainly had in his opinion, and she cocked her head and he gave up trying to intimidate her altogether.

"SOUL! You alright down there? Harvar's good, just wait a couple more seconds and we'll get you out, too!"

"Damn," Soul cursed. He grabbed her and pulled her against the boat before anyone could see her, surprised she let herself so easily. That surprise was erased when she grabbed his wrist hard enough to bruise and gave him a furious look. "Chill out!" He spat out water when a wave hit him. "If they see you, they'll kill you!"

"Weren't you about to do that just now?" She accused.

"Soul?" Black Star shouted again, more alarmed.

"I'M FINE!" He snapped back and then sneered at her, "You're not worth killing," and figured that wasn't the right to say when her mouth slacked in outrage. There was no need to sign his death warrant so soon so he amended: "I mean, you just saved my life! It wouldn't be fair to kill you like this. So, next time," he added with a quirk of his lips. Her outrage slowly subsided and she watched in wonder as the man with the stark white hair and strange red eyes grinned dangerously at her, revealing jagged teeth that shouldn't have interested her as much as they did—that shouldn't have roused something inside of her, drawing her closer to him although all logic told her to back away from the man with the wicked grin and cloudy red eyes. "Next time you won't be so lucky."

"I can take care of myself," she defended, close enough that Soul could feel the bat of her tail against his foot. It didn't startle him like before.

"Yeah, that's why you just floated there like an idiot when I threatened to kill you," Soul sarcastically shot back and she pinked and he was _so_ onto her—she was doing this on purpose, being all cute and shit. He would not fall for it. He was better than that. At least he hoped so.

"I could have defended myself if you had attacked me!" She insisted and he smirked, totally not believing her and not bothering to hide it.

She puffed her cheeks out. "I could have!"

"Sure."

"I really could have!"

"Yeah."

She slit her eyes, green eyes flashing with annoyance. "_You_ should be more afraid of me," she suddenly said and then she was so close their noses touched and Soul made a sound between a gargle and a choke and jerked back with surprise. "I could drown you right now if I wanted to but I won't because you're right," She smiled slowly, a sensuous and predatory smile that shouldn't have turned him on as much as it did. Her eyes twinkled. Her skin was soft and wet and her lips were pink, pink and pouty. Pink. He knew he was staring and he didn't really care.

"Next time," she agreed and then he looked up to find her eyes bright and hot—her smile just dark enough to make him think she _would _drown him if he misjudged his next step. "_You'll be mine,_" she hissed and he set his teeth, not liking just how much he liked the sound of that.

"Tch, yeah, right," he forced out. "In your dreams," and made sure to keep a distance from her even though her tail kept sliding up his leg suggestively.

"Mermaids do not dream," she told him matter-of-factly.

"That's rough. I'd say more but I really don't care," Soul drawled and she pressed her lips together, clearly irked by his resistance.

"I hear dreams are not always pleasant—I've heard sailors awaken screaming sometimes," she told him and she pressed herself up against the boat, back arched so her breasts seemed almost offered up to him—perky and wet and he _knew_ with an unnerving amount of certainty that they would fill his hands just right and _Jesus Christ_, he found himself thinking with nausea, was she _really_ doing what he thought she was doing? If she was, he had no idea what he was going to do about it except he hoped the guys didn't notice his boner. "I do hope you don't awaken screaming," she smiled sickly sweet and he knew she was just fucking with him.

Getting seduced by one of the things he needed to kill was _not _part of the plan. He was onto her, though, she was already working her funky mermaid charm on him and screwing with him—trying to unbalance him, make him succumb to her. And she had another thing coming even though she was halfway to her goal.

So, steeling himself and hardening his eyes, trying to pick up the pieces of his broken pride and slowly cracking self-control, he told her, glad his voice came out strong:

"Good dreams or not, I'm not kidding. If I see you again, I'll kill you," and then the lifebuoy was back and he was clutching onto it, glad to say that at least he got the last word in this battle of wits.

The mermaid made sure to keep against the boat, watching him with that same intensity that had unnerved him up on deck. Now it stirred something else inside of him, something he knew was troublesome and dangerous, and then she sunk back into the waters and disappeared altogether.

He didn't breathe a word of her when the others asked if he was fine as his face was flushed and his shoulders were rigid and back stiff.

He was just glad they let him go to the bathroom and didn't ask any questions when he came back out looking a lot more relaxed.


	3. Chapter 3

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlett_

He never had much wet dreams. Compared to other guys he knew, he was pretty tame, always more interested in his music and how to build himself better so as to satisfy his parents ridiculously high standards. But he wouldn't lie that waking up sweating, breath labored and with his dick as high as it could go, was starting to really get on his nerves after the sixth day. Half the time, he did not remember the dreams: only bits and pieces, like pink lips caught between his teeth or her hands, nails digging into his back hard enough to ache, with the faint whispers of his name against his chin that almost always made his eyes spring open and bring attention to the problem downstairs.

She had officially ruined him.

He didn't take that lightly, either—it took a lot to screw with him and she had done it effectively and without much effort. If all it took was three words and a little encouraging with her tits, he was no better than any of the other idiots out there, which, he supposed with a heavy sigh, was another thing he was not good at. Temptation, he'd always had a good reign on it and knew how to control and use it to his advantage, but temptation was winning out this time.

He didn't think he could stand waking up like that, so feverish and needful of her, for much longer.

Soul stared up at the dark sky that night, trying to figure out why he had such an explosive connection with that girl. He could say it was because he hadn't gotten laid in a long time except that theory fell because he'd gone to pubs and strip bars with his crewmates and hadn't felt any particular desire to bed a woman. He was more interested in how many glasses of whiskey he could shoot down in order to out-drink Clay or Black Star—thus far, Black Star was the leading heavyweight champion.

He could sum it up to the fact that she was a mermaid and clearly magical in her own way and, although her singing was what one needed to look out for, she had to have other manners of dealing with men. But then that theory fell as well because a mermaids goal was to drown men and she hadn't—she had just looked at him as he drew his blade to her. It was clear that she did not mean harm to him…so what was her deal?

Or, more precisely, what was _his _deal?

Somewhere inside, he knew. He knew and it did not bode well with him. It troubled him because guys like him didn't get girls like her. Guys like him didn't get lucky like that. _He_ didn't get lucky like that, never had with anything else and never would. This job he got was pure chance and his weapon gene was just the gods playing a sick prank on him. No luck, just bad luck.

But there was still that nagging in the back of his head, the one that filled him with dangerous hope. He could hear her voice in his head so clearly, as clear as the notes he used to pore over on the piano. Three words that fueled his desire, that haunted his dreams:

_You'll be mine._

Mine.

Soul swallowed thickly and tried not to think about it anymore.

"What're you gonna' do after this?" Black Star asked suddenly, arms crossed beneath his head as they both laid on the roof of the cabin; staring at the stars, two friends who'd had too much to drink. "We can only do two years out here before we gotta' look for jobs somewhere else."

"Only Weapons," Soul mumbled. "You're not a Weapon, Star."

"But like hell am I gonna' come back here without you guys!" Black Star argued then sobered up. "You're all worthy disciples! I wouldn't wanna' betray you guys by taking in strays!" Black Star groped for his bottle and shook it, frowning when he found it empty. Soul tossed him his half-full one and the man took a grateful drink. "We've hunted nearly every thing that lives in these waters..."

"'Cept mermaids," Soul reminded absently.

"I'm not killing a mermaid."

Soul opened his eyes and looked at Black Star, who continued to stare at the sky. "I thought you said you'd hunt everything here before the two years were up? That _another _bet you gonna' lose?" Soul smirked. Those fifty bucks were his when Black Star got paid.

"Mermaids are girls," Black Star told him matter-of-factly, ignoring his last bit, "and I don't hit girls, much less kill them."

Soul snorted, nearly laughing. "Dude, those things aren't girls. They're monsters," he thought about the green-eyed beauty whom he saw every day in the evening from afar; the mermaid who'd saved his life. He felt some guilt for calling her a monster because she very clearly wasn't—not in the fair definition of the word…

_You'll be mine_, she sighed in his head and he ground his teeth for being so absurd as to actually think her words held any sort of truth in the way he wanted them to.

"They're not monsters, they're cursed."

"…Cursed?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Black Star stifled a yawn. "Sid doesn't want to hunt them cuz of that. He says we will one day but that's only so there aren't any problems with the crew. But mermaids aren't real monsters: they're cursed women cast out into sea. Sid says it's the witches who do it—they find girls with Grigori souls, because their souls are powerful and witches can't control them, and curse their hearts so they have to live in the sea until their soul mate comes 'round to save them."

Soul flinched at the word _soul mate._

"Most of them die out there, waiting for them. Mermaids live a sad life, y'know? I mean, imagine waiting for a soul mate whose terrified of water? No wonder they wanna' drown everyone," Black Star mumbled and gave the bottle back to Soul. But Soul did not take another drink from it. "They're just jaded and sad, no need to go killing them when they have a chance at being happy."

_Sad_... Soul thought of that green-eyed girl. She never looked sad but maybe he just hadn't looked hard enough. He had been so intent on avoiding her, of not being dragged under her spell and trying to shake whatever pull she had on him, that he never noticed if she was sad. She hadn't even sung and he never heard of a man dying without a mermaid singing first. She hadn't even _tried _to enchant him. She _saved _his life, for Christ's sake!

_You'll be mine.  
_  
Soul felt a knot form in his gut and this time he took another drink of whiskey before his thoughts led him to dangerous territory.

"Hey,"

"What?"

"How do they know when they've found him? Their soul mate?"

Black Star shrugged. "Mermaids are cursed, so they've got some magic in 'em. They must just know."

With that, they lapsed back into silence. Then Soul sat up, grunting with the effort it took, and he rolled his eyes when Black Star's hand immediately snaked to the bottle and he clutched it to his chest.

"Relax. I wasn't gonna' take the bottle with me. I need to piss," he said and snickered when Black Star still didn't let go of the bottle. "I think that bottle might be _your _soul mate!"

"Pfft, that'd be awesome! She'd never leave me!" Black Star grinned toothily. "And she'd always make me feel good!" He took another chug to prove his point and sighed in utmost satisfaction. Soul smirked but left the man to his liquor, jumping off the roof a little unsteadily and going down the steps to the bathroom. He'd take a piss in the ocean except he didn't know if that green-eyed mermaid was there or not.

He wondered what she did all this time. Did she just swim around? Maybe sleep? Did mermaids even sleep? She did tell him mermaids didn't dream so perhaps they didn't sleep, either? Soul wondered this as he waited for the bathroom to vacate. She hadn't tried to reach out to him again. Maybe he should try? Not that he would be anything of a soul mate to her—he was a twisted bastard, anyone who knew him could see that, and he was most definitely not soul mate material. Soul grimaced, looking down at his shoes. He'd probably fuck that up somehow, if he was, not that he was saying he was. Or that he wanted to be. No. That was insanity. Soul stopped thinking about it before it really pissed him off.

"Better let it air out, man!" Clay grinned unrepentantly at Soul when he opened the door. "Whooo, that was some chili!"

"Aw, dude, c'mon! I gotta' take a piss!"

"Piss in the ocean, genius, not like anyone's gonna' see you!" Clay rolled his eyes and returned to their small lounge where the other guys were still eating and watching some movie Kilik had brought along for listless nights like these. Soul took a risk and stepped inside the bathroom but quickly ran out. No matter how much he needed to pee, he was not going to punish himself that way.

Soul slouched outside with a heavy frown, deciding he'd give the bathroom a half hour to air out like Clay said before he ventured back in. He looked at the roof, able to hear Black Star happily snoring, likely clutching the bottle to his chest like some teddy bear. With a tiny smirk, Soul leaned on the rail and watched the water. It was a calm night with the barest of winds although the air still felt cold. He buried his nose in the crook of his elbow and found himself wondering about that green-eyed mermaid again.

He couldn't get the thought that she was sad out of his head; it bugged him too much. It figures Black Star would be the one to give him something to think about, Soul brooded. His eyes moved back to the waters rippling softly as their boat glided through and he shifted so his chin rested on his arm. It wasn't like anyone was going to hear him—the guys were too engrossed with the action flick and Black Star was out cold. And if someone did hear him, he could just play it off. No big deal.

"Hey?" He called out, hesitantly. "You out there?"

The waters remained still. He felt a twang disappointed and he sunk his head back into his arms. Probably the alcohol that was making him feel like this, he thought, all guilty and stupid.

"…Are you okay?"

Soul snapped his head up and stared into big green eyes that watched him worriedly. He straightened up—so she had been there! Ha! He'd been right! But his triumph quickly deflated when he realized he had absolutely nothing to say to her. What was he supposed to say? If what Black Star told him was true, that she was cursed by a witch to remain in the water until her…soul mate saved her? Then what? It wasn't like, and Soul soured at the thought, it wasn't like it was him who'd save her or anything.

Something that innocent, that pretty and quaint, could not have anything to do with him. Hell, he'd threatened to kill her and called her a monster on more than one occasion. If she hung around this close to the boat, she'd surely heard him… and his guilt came back full-force and he slouched again and hoped the emotion didn't show on his face.

"M'fine," he replied and watched her gently float in the water. "Aren't you cold?"

The girl smiled a bit and shook her head. "I'm used to the temperature. It does not bother me anymore."

_Anymore_, his mind hissed and he gripped his arms. "Anymore?" He decided to ask and then he saw it—that little glimmer in her eye as her head bowed. Sadness. Great, he would need to apologize to her for being a jackass now or else he wouldn't get a good nights rest and it was mopping duty for him tomorrow! Not that'd he'd get much sleep anyway, what with the images she'd only too willingly provided his brain to use against him.

"Well, sometimes the waters freeze," she told him and he cringed at the thought of living in subzero waters. "But since we always keep away from deep waters, it isn't so bad. It's better during the summer."

"You can't die, right? From cold waters?"

"No," she shook her head. "I just feel cold like…like you would if you did not wear that!" She pointed to his jacket and he glanced at it.

"My jacket?"

"Yes….It's called a j-jacket?"

"You don't know what a jacket is?" He rose a brow and she pinked a little, sinking into the waters with embarrassment. He felt his mouth twitch when she puffed her cheeks out stubbornly afterwards, clearly not liking the fact that she did not know something. He was onto her but, at this point, all of her cutesy little gestures were probably just all her.

"Well, I live in the sea so I would not wear any of that!" She defended.

"But you've gotta' have seen it before. Never thought of asking or anything?" He teased.

"No," she glared. "Because no man would talk to me. They think I'll drown them."

His humor drained at that and he sobered up, feeling bad again. Well, she had a point there. He even said it once to her face; another thing to apologize for. "Considering your kind has a history of drowning men, you can't blame us," he shrugged.

The girl only hummed back, her tail breaching the water a little as she pushed herself along to follow the boat. He noticed her tail was a sweet coral pink color; scales flashing beneath the moonlight. After a second of thought, Soul pointed at his pants and she cocked her head curiously. "You know what these are called?"

"…Um…"

"Pants," he told her and she tried the word out carefully. "These are shoes and beneath my jacket," he tugged on it in case she forgot, "is my shirt. Those are the general words, if you wanna' be specific then my shirt would be a Raglan t-shirt."

She looked up at him with such wonder he kind of wanted to ruffle her hair or pinch her cheeks. But he didn't think reaching down to do that would end well.

"Does it bother you to wear such things?"

"Clothes? Nah, used to them," he grinned. "Don't you feel weird swimming around naked?"

"No…" Maka replied, glancing down at herself. Soul tried not to look. Really, he did. "I've been like this for as long as I can remember."

That caught his interest. "So you were born in the sea?" He asked, carefully. "You have a mother like you?"

"No, she's…she's human. My father as well," she looked troubled as she said this. Soul let her continue without interruption. "My memories from being human are gone. I don't remember anything from my past. I only know I was human once because my sisters tell me I was and tell me that I can be, again."

"How?" He asked, so far Black Star's version of them sounding true.

"They say that one day someone will come and when they see me, they will be able to resist all other songs and yearn for mine," Maka looked a little happier as she said this and his eyes softened. "And he will save me but first he will have to follow me into the water…"

"Follow you… into the water?" He repeated, apprehensively.

She nodded. "If the man is of worth and honor, if his feelings are sincere and without taint, he will not drown and he will break the curse." She looked back up at him and he saw that perpetual sadness in her eyes, that sadness that made his gut knot up and his heart feel heavy. "And when the curse has been broken, he'll take me back to land and I'll be happy again."

"So you can't walk on land, huh?"

"I can."

"Eh?"

"I have a limit," Maka told him uncomfortably. "A few hours at best before I must return to the waters or die. Some of us have tried to live normal human lives like that…but they must be unable to, after knowing what they will always miss when they return to the sea, and they choose death instead of waiting for someone to break the curse," she told him and Soul felt _really _bad now.

He watched her swim for a second and then he slouched a little more and grumbled something out. She perked at attention, her brows creasing because she hadn't caught what he said, and he stifled a sigh and figured his pride could take a little beating—only because she was sad and he did not want her to be anymore sad than she already was. Even if she was screwing with him, there was no need to make her life any worse. Living out in the ocean, waiting for someone who might not even come…that was actually quite sorrowful.

"Sorry," he sighed out. "For trying to kill you that time you saved me. I…won't do it again," he lamely ended and she smiled back, almost impishly.

"You mean you _weren't_ trying to lure me into a calm just now so you could kill me?" She innocently taunted and he smirked, liking her spunk.

"Why? Does it look like that?"

"Maybe."

"Well, it isn't like that," he punctuated his words with a smug grin. "You're too far, anyway."

"So if I were _closer_," she drew the last word out and he couldn't help the tremble that raced down his back at the low tone of her next words, "you would still not try to kill me?"

"No. I had it wrong. You're not a monster," he told her and her own smile faded, too. She looked down and he clenched his jaw. "You're just a girl who was at the wrong place, wrong time. So, I'm sorry for calling you a monster. And I'm sorry for making things harder than they already are. That wasn't cool."

"…Thank you," she quietly said and smiled up so brightly at him that he was stunned for a moment. Just a moment but it was enough of an opening for her to spit water at his face.

"What the hell, woman, I just apologized and you spit _water _at me?" He growled, wiping his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "Argh, gross!"

She stuck her tongue out. "That's what you get for calling me names!"

"I said I was sorry, tiny tits!"

She narrowed her eyes. "I have the feeling of that being an insult."

He grinned sarcastically. "No, of course it's not. What gave you that idea? It's totally a compliment. Your tits aren't small, they're just not there—argh! Sick, that got in my mouth! Alright, sorry, jeez!" He spat out salt water and sent her a dark look she smirked at.

"What does tits mean?"

"...Nothing," he coughed. She pursed her lips at his sudden nervousness. "Just...uh—dammit, quit it!" He dodged when she tried to spit water at him again. "It means boobs!"

"What are boobs?" She demanded, growing frustrated with his generations strange words.

"Uh...breasts?"

She stared at him and he stared back and felt vaguely dreadful. Maybe he should have lied to her instead of telling her the truth? And he was right when she suddenly dived down and, when he leaned over to look, his eyes rounded at the huge splash she made with her tail. He cursed and stumbled back but couldn't evade the wave in time. He barely bit down a loud curse. The waters were _freezing!_ He couldn't understand why she wasn't frozen yet.

"Call me that again," she told him, voice dropping dangerously, "and I really _will _drown you, you imbecile!"

"M'kidding!" He whined and wiped his face of water. He would need to shower now, he sighed and gave her a weary look. "Sorry. I mean it this time, I was just kidding around," he rolled his eyes when she fixed him with a look.

"Okay," she flicked a drop of water at him that hit him right on the forehead. He growled but wiped it off without any complaints. "_Now _I forgive you!" She giggled and laughed when he glared and grumbled about confusing, irritating women. His ire melted away at the sound of her laughter. It was warm and pretty and it made him feel strange—content, almost. He wanted to continue hearing it but before he could ask her what was so damn funny, in an attempt to cover up his gooey uncool feelings, he heard footsteps approach and suddenly she was gone; not a ripple of water in sight that told him she had been there in the first place.

"The others have gone to bed," Sid announced himself and came to stand next to Soul. "You should be, too. Where's Black Star?"

"On the roof."

"Sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"Not again," Sid sighed. "You'll get him down later?"

"And let him punch me like he did last time? Not fucking likely," Soul snorted derisively. His eyes returned to the sea and he wondered if she could hear them talking. If she could, he didn't want to say anything stupid. Well, stupider than usual.

"With the way you keep staring at the ocean like that, you'd think a mermaid sang her song," Sid humored and Soul stiffened. He rose a brow at his wet shirt, the splotch of water he could see on his pant leg. "You nearly fall overboard or...?"

"Uh, it was wet and I slipped..." he slowly said and Sid gave him a long look before bursting out laughing. Soul heaved a sigh and darkly thought that mermaid girl better be happy he was keeping her a secret. His secret. Soul frowned at his own dumb thoughts and turned back to the rail, leaning on it as Sid gazed out at the ocean with mirth.

"I'll tell you something that'll give you a reason to trip over your feet," Sid suddenly said. Soul spared him a glance. "I heard a mermaid sing once!"

"Serious?"

"As serious as death! And it didn't do a damn thing to me. I didn't want to follow her down into the waters and my thoughts didn't turn to mush or anything like the others described it."

"You ever figure out why?" Soul asked, feeling he already knew why.

"I found her, during one of my hunting trips," Sid told him musingly. "I don't know where she is now but I know that she's out there, somewhere."

He knew who he was talking about. He wondered if he remembered how she looked, if he would be able to pick her from the rest, and he found himself voicing his second thought and it was met with wry amusement.

"Of course I would: I saw her that day. Bad luck since it was the last week of the season but she told she'd find me again."

"Is that why you keep coming back?"

"Partly," Sid reached into his pocket and shuffled out a cigarette from the box. He offered one to Soul but he shook his head. He brain felt stuffy with information and really what he needed was to sleep on everything that just happened. The soul mate thing, the curse, that green-eyed girl…whom he never caught the name of! As he seethed, Sid continued talking: "I also enjoy the sea. Especially nights like these, when the waters are calm and the winds are quiet."

"And then there's the storms," Soul grumped. "And the feeling of puking when you eat Kilik's mystery meat."

"Now that's on you, Soul! Eating things with the word 'mystery' in it is not the type of man I am!" Sid grinned. "I'd rather go hungry than eat that mans creations! I'm still surprised Black Star is able to stomach them…"

"He's not human," Soul muttered and they both had a chuckle at the thought.

When Sid finished his cigarette, he clapped his hand on Soul's back and told him to tuck in for the night. Black Star could stay on the roof although if he made a fuss that no one woke him up in the morning, Soul was in charge of controlling him. With that, Sid headed back down the stairs and soon after it became silent again. Soul gazed down at the water for a second, seeing nothing ripple beneath it and no sign of that girl anywhere.

"My names Soul," he said, in case she was listening. "Night." He leaned off the rail and began to head back inside when he heard her—just a squeak but he heard her.

"…M-Maka!"

And she was gone by the time he looked but at least he knew what to call her now.


	4. Chapter 4

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlett_

He was pretty sure he was drowning.

If by the way his lungs ached for air and he clawed at the water to no avail; deceptively soft hands bringing him lower and lower, the sound of high cruel laughter of women muffling his own gasps. He tried to tear her hands off his body but she held on tight, her malicious blue eyes glaring into his. She bared her teeth at him and then her mouth formed into a grin and she continued to drag him deeper and deeper, twirling him with dark glee as he tried not to pass out.

Truth be told, this had been Black Star's fault. When they had circled around the serpent infested water two weeks later, having only caught two—with the second one being _fully _caught, a mother to their great luck—Sid had told them they would swing back to the moor and collect their money. Their client might be slightly annoyed they hadn't caught three grown ones but considering their second serpent was a mother, they managed to catch its frantic little babies in their nets and brought them on-board too.

So they had headed back to mermaid territory and all would have been fine…if Black Star hadn't loudly proclaimed that no woman could bewitch him because he was too mighty. That certainly scorned the mermaids, who took pride in their voices and songs, because then they began to sing and although the earplugs did muffle their sound enough that the pull was not as hard, Black Star hadn't been wearing his. He had forgotten in all his boasting. Soul had felt no different despite their singing, to his great surprise. He didn't have to fight any sort of temptation nor did he try to jump in the water like his stupid, stupid friend actually tried to do.

And, of course, since he and Sid were the only ones who were not affected by their songs (the others had their eyes screwed shut and their heads clutched in their hands) they both grabbed Black Star before the idiot could go get himself drowned. The man was stronger than they gave him credit for: he managed to knock Sid clean off his feet and took a swing at Soul. But he had managed to pin him down on the floor. At least until Black Star snarled and shoved him off with a burst of strength, grabbing him by his shirt and shoving him over the edge of the gunwale.

And Sid hadn't been lying about mermaids reaching out to grab men.

Soul had been grabbed by his hair, the damn bitch nearly ripping it out, and both he and Black Star had toppled over and into the water. And now he was drowning, _actually _drowning this time, because he tried to save that idiot. He couldn't even see him anymore: he had no idea where the man had gone but if his fate was any similar to his, he was probably filling his lungs up with water by some femme fatale mermaid.

_"Let go of me!" _Soul shouted underwater, his voice loud in his ears despite all his flailing, and the mermaid hissed at him. He was going to die and he hadn't even asked Maka why she followed him around so much all those times he talked to her. His eyes popped open. Maka followed him around. _"Maka!" _Soul shouted, the last of his breath escaping him_. "MAKA!"_

The mermaid that held him down looked so terribly shocked when he called her name. She stared at him, stared hard at him, and then suddenly she let him go and moved away, looking very horrified. But Soul barely had time to look: he righted himself and tried desperately to reach the surface. But he was so deep, he saw with growing fear, the surface looked so far away and he knew he would never be able to reach it in time. It was too far but then hands grabbed him again, lips pressed against his mouth and he was startled by the air they breathed into his lungs. He inhaled it greedily, gripping her arms as she brought him up and up, and when he opened his eyes, they met furious green ones and then his head broke the surface and he sucked in air, coughing hard. His limbs felt weak and light and his head hurt and everything felt heavy.

"This," he coughed, "is the second time you save me. Not cool," he managed a weak imitation of his grin.

Maka pressed her hand to his pale cheek and pushed away stray hair from his eyes with her other hand, smiling exasperatedly at him. "Why are you always being thrown overboard?"

"Because I'm stupid," he swallowed another grateful breath of air and then looked around, his heart picking up again. "Where's Black Star? Shit, BLACK STAR!"

"He's gone," Maka told him regretfully, holding him upright so he didn't sink. He looked pale and wild-eyed again. She didn't like that look on his face. Maka looked down at the water, searching it for any signs of that man. She could hear her sisters, all gathered below her watching her with wide eyes. She knew Liz had not meant any malice by trying to drown him—well, she _had_, but she hadn't known about him. She should have told her it was him. She had only told them that one of the men on the boat had felt…_right_, so wonderfully right.

If she hadn't been so embarrassed by their teasing and giddy laughter, she would have told them who it was and maybe Liz wouldn't have tried to drown Soul. But that man, Black Star, no matter if she tried to save him because Soul asked her to, she would be too late. He was too deep now. She wouldn't be able to—!

"There he is!" Soul grinned and Maka blinked.

To her surprise… the man was actually _fighting _the mermaids. Maka watched with bewilderment as Black Star fought tooth and nail to escape their clutches—and gasped in horror when one of the Weapons on the boat managed to stab one of her sisters in the neck, successfully frightening away the rest. It was the one with the glasses, the one that scared her, and he smirked as he grabbed her by the hair and slit open her throat. She noticed Black Star's face was scrunched as he was pulled on-board again, as if he were fighting something, and she knew it was the song. Even though they weren't singing anymore, she knew it would echo in his head until he set foot on land. Land, or dirt if they had any, always broke the spell.

"I have to get over there!" Soul said and Maka nodded, giving him a nudge. He looked at her and saw her uncomfortable expression, her eyes flashing to the boat grimly. He looked again and grimaced at the sight of Harvar pulling out a dead mermaid inside the boat. "I won't let him touch you," he promised. "Go and—urgh!"

"SOUL!" Maka shrieked when he was pulled down, diving after him. "_LET HIM GO!"_ Maka shouted at her sister in horror, watching her choke him._ "What are you doing? Let him go! He did nothing to you!"_

_"THEY KILLED MY SISTER!"_ The mermaid screamed at Maka, her eyes anguished. She brought him even deeper, digging her nails into his throat. _"THEY KILLED HER AND HE WAS WITH THEM! HE'S ONE OF THEM! HE'S A WEAPON LIKE THEM!"_

_"He might be a weapon but he would never do that! You can't extract your revenge by using him, IT WAS NOT HIS FAULT! LET HIM GO!" _Maka snarled viciously and tackled her, shoving her away from Soul. He kicked away, clutching his throat, but the other mermaid swiftly attacked Maka. She would have grabbed her hair and punched her if it hadn't been for Liz, who restrained the other one enough for their other sisters to come and stop the cat fight.

_"You traitor!" _the other mermaid hissed.

_"You stay away from him or I'll rip your hair out, you wench!"_ Maka snarled back and the other mermaid swam away but not without one last dark look at her._ "Oh, Soul!"_ Maka remembered and swam to him, grabbing him and shaking him when he didn't respond. He wasn't moving, she saw with terror. He was _not _moving! Maka paid no heed to any one else, even when Liz shouted at her to come back. Maka brought him up to the surface again but felt her heart drop when he didn't move. She needed to bring him to dry land—she needed… Maka had no choice. She needed to bring him to the boat so they could revive him!

Maka wasted no time swimming to the boat, dragging his body along. She saw the dark-skinned man, the one who Soul often said cooked bad meat and got them sick with his creations, shout in alarm. Others came and she pushed Soul to them, frantically.

"He's not breathing! You have to save him! Hurry!"

"Wait, what?" Kilik blinked, not expecting that.

Sid stared at her and then reached over to grab the rope. He tossed it at her and she grappled for it before wrapping it around Soul tightly. "You heard her! Pull 'em up, boys!" Sid ordered and they did, hauling a limp Soul out of the water. Maka watched, her heart pounding, and then she saw the glint of gold and screamed, barely avoiding being impaled by a spear. It managed to nick her shoulder, though, drawing blood. Her eyes flashed a violent green at Harvar when he set a foot on the edge of the boat, his spear out and glinting under the afternoon sun. She would kill him if he tried that again; she knew enough to know that if she grabbed hold of his spear, she essentially had a piece of him, and she could inflict major damage with it.

"HARVAR!" Sid shouted harshly, grabbing the mans shoulder before he could try again. Maka watched, her eyes returning to their normal shade of green as the captain put himself between them. "What are you doing? She's helping him!"

"She's a mermaid!"

"She just saved him and you will not kill the person who saved Soul no matter if she's a mermaid or not! That's _not _the type of men we are!" Sid snarled and grabbed his spear. He stabbed it into Harvar, making the man gasp, but the spear became one with him again and he fell on his knees, clutching the spot in his stomach where the spear had jabbed through.

Maka nodded at Sid when he glanced at her and waited, waited because she had to know if he was alive. Her eyes threatened to well with tears but she held them back bravely, not shedding a single one. If she hadn't waited so long, he wouldn't be fighting for his life right now. If she hadn't—Maka set her teeth regretfully and then there was the cook Kilik again, grinning down at her.

"He's breathing!"

Maka released a breath she didn't know she was holding and sank a little in the water with relief. "Is he awake?" She asked, hopefully.

Kilik shook his head, watching her curiously. This was not a sight he was used to: a mermaid near-tears because a man nearly drowned. Usually it was opposite: cruel glee and satisfaction. Kilik's eyes suddenly widened, leaning over the edge dangerously. She saw the one with the strange hair cut, Ox, stand next to Kilik and give her a curious look; as if he wanted to ask her something but Kilik beat him to it:

"Are you in love with him?"

Maka startled, jerking away from him. She hadn't thought about it that way: she just knew that when he was around it felt right and warm. But that made sense: love. Maybe she did love him, maybe that was why the thought of him gone hurt so much. So, thinking she had nothing to lose, Maka nodded her head and Kilik stared again and said a strange word under his breath. Something like _fuck me _although she didn't know what that meant. Perhaps surprise, judging by his expression. This generations language, Maka thought with a disdainful scoff, was absolutely annoying.

"You're a mermaid," Ox told her and she looked at him. He stiffened under her smoldering gaze, adjusting his glasses on his nose awkwardly. "Why on _earth _would you save Soul, a man? It should go against your nature..."

"The cook asked the same, phrased differently," she told him. "He belongs to me," she simply told him and Ox blinked and Kilik sighed.

"Man, what'd I _give _to have a girl say that to me," he mumbled and grinned down at Maka when she cocked her head at him curiously. "Don't drown me and you have my blessing."

"I can arrange that," she smirked at him and he blew out a chuckling breath, unable to help the thought of Soul being one lucky bastard.

"I have another question, if you don't mind!" Ox hurried before he lost his chance. "The Sirens, the women who are said to reside in the cliffsides and near the shores, there are legends that say they're cousins to mermaid however I have reason to believe otherwise! There is too much evidence that counters it! Are they truly cousins or were they once mermaids and have been turned into Sirens - ?"

"They're outcasts and we do not speak of them," Maka coldly told him and Ox nodded eagerly, wishing he'd brought his notebook with him.

"Could you? I understand it's a taboo topic but just because this is stuff that isn't in books! I _have _to know!" Ox hurried, spotting Harvar recovering. He'd hold a grudge if he saw him talking to a mermaid, even if it was for his knowledge. "This is something I have to go to the source for and I may not have a chance at this again!"

Maka pressed her lips together but decided it would not hurt, only because he looked so very eager to know. Soul had said Ox was an intellectual. She respected scholars, being one herself. "Sirens and our kind are very different despite common belief. Sirens are abominations. They're a creation that should have never seen light and although their song might be as irresistible as our own, if heeded, it will lead to an...unfortunate conclusion. A fate worse than death. They frolic in fields of corpses and gorge on the souls of men," Maka told him and Ox and Kilik listened, unnerved, "They're the reason why we are hunted so much."

"Reason?" Kilik dared to ask.

"We are often confused," Maka smiled bitterly. "They're what you must really look out for. If you believe a death by drowning is the worst you can imagine, you have obviously never seen how a Siren kills a man."

"And mermaids?" Ox asked, quickly. "How do you differ from Sirens?"

"We are cursed," Maka looked down at the water for a second before looking up again with a very tiny smile, "But we have a chance at being human again."

"Again?" Kilik snapped his head down. "You mean you were _actually human once _- ?"

At her sad smile, Kilik and Ox stared, unsure of how to take this new information.

When the man with the dark-colored glasses stumbled into sight again, Maka dove back into the water and made sure to swim deep enough so the water would stop his spear should he try to throw it. She heard Ox moan something out, something about his one true source being forever gone now, and faintly heard the one with the glasses snap something at him before they disappeared from sight. She could vaguely see them through the ripples of the water but she didn't dare resurface: Soul was alive and he would be okay and that was all she needed to know to ease her beating heart.

However...he would leave.

Because Black Star would still be bewitched by the song.

He needed to touch dry land immediately, so they would have to leave immediately. Soul had also told her a few nights ago that they captured all they needed to and he would be going back, anyway. Maka clutched her hands to her chest, wanting to go with them so badly; for once she truly loathed the cursed placed upon her. She wanted to be near Soul. She wanted him to say something to anger her so she could spit water at him, because his reactions always made her laugh and laughing was something she did not do often. He made her so happy—she just wanted to be happy for once, wanted to prove to that wretched witch who called herself Medusa that she was wrong and there was really someone out there for her.

_"Maka," _Liz whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. Maka looked, her hair floating to one side as the tide swept past._ "I didn't know…forgive me."_

_"It's okay,"_ Maka smiled halfheartedly at her. _"I didn't tell you it was him…and you let him go when he called my name."  
_  
_"Anya is calmer now but she's still angry with you,"_ Liz told her and looked back down to where the others had gone. Liz pressed her lips together. _"That wench, actually trying to drown the only one who held your heart! She knew, too! She knew it was him!"_

Maka's eyes darkened and she turned away, motioning to the two others who waited for them nearby.

She would have never forgiven her if Soul had actually died. But he was fine, he was breathing, and although she would probably never see him again, at least she knew that there really was someone out there who was meant for her; someone could break her curse. That was enough for now.

* * *

When he woke again, he was sore all over and his first thought was about Maka and why she wasn't with him. Then the past days events came back to him and he groaned and forced himself to sit up, holding his head in his hand. His neck burned as if someone had wrapped it in barbs and when he touched it, he felt thick pads of gauze beneath his fingertips. He was in his boxers only and he couldn't spot his wet clothes anywhere. He wondered how much time had passed when the door opened, revealing Clay with a glass of water in his hand.

He perked up. "Hey, you're finally awake! I thought I was gonna' have to dump this glass of water on you so you'd wake up!"

Soul sneered back. He rubbed his neck as Clay closed the door behind him. "How long was I out?"

"About a day," he replied. "Sid said to come wake you up cuz you were probably just sleeping in at this point."

"I really _did _just wake up right now," Soul deadpanned.

"How were _we _supposed to know that?" Clay grinned. He offered him the glass of water and Soul took it gratefully, nearly draining the glass. "So, you snagged yourself a mermaid, huh? Alright, that's pretty badass. I give you that much," he smiled lopsidedly when Soul stiffened, nearly spitting out his water. "But I've _still _got more game with regular girls than you."

"Shut up."

"It's true."

"I don't try."

"Whatever makes you feel better."

Soul chuckled and looked at the sheets tangled around his legs. "She brought me back, didn't she?"

"Pretty panicked, actually," Clay told him, watching his face flash with concern before it smoothed back into its neutral state. He had to admit: Soul had the best poker face out of all of them. "She thought you died."

"You guys told her I'm not dead, right?" Soul demanded, sharply. She harbored enough sadness, the last thing she needed was this added weight in her heart.

"Yeah. Ox interrogated her about Sirens or something and then she disappeared," Clay told him, deciding not to tell him Harvar had nearly killed his mermaid lover. He was sure that would not roll over well. He sure as hell would stab any bastard who tried to kill his girl. He could only imagine what someone like Soul would do. He admitted to messing with the guy but he always made sure not to overstep his boundaries: there was something about Soul that unnerved him although it was probably just the fact that he had dark red eyes and a killer grin—_literally_, sharp teeth and creepiness and all. He didn't know what that pretty mermaid saw in the guy—he was a sight for sore eyes, in his opinion—but whatever she did, Clay was still happy for them.

Maybe then Soul would get laid and stop being such a Grinch.

"Hey," Clay suddenly said, very seriously. "How do you…_do it _with a mermaid? Isn't her lower half…a fish tail? Like, does she have a _hole _somewhere—?"

"She can become human if she touches land, Clay, just _shut up _before you scar me," Soul held a hand up and glowered when Clay snickered.

"Just a curious question!" He defended himself and then sobered again. "Black Star's locked up in his room. Don't go in there. Sid says the song will affect him the most at night, so if you hear shouting and banging, just ignore it."

Soul grimaced but nodded. "So we're heading back?"

Clay nodded. "Should be there in a few days, Kid's going all out."

Soul dropped his eyes to the sheets, his expression one of calm although inside was another story. If they were going back, that meant he would not be able to see Maka again. He didn't know when he would be able to venture this close to where she lived. He had already used up his second year and only hunter boats were allowed this deep into the sea.

Clay left him to his thoughts after one last friendly smile and headed back to Sid to inform him he was alive and kicking—or in Soul's case, Clay chuckled, alive and _brooding_.

Soul, meanwhile, only troubled himself with thoughts of never seeing her again for a few more seconds before he swung his feet over the edge of his mattress and got dressed. When he walked out, he flinched when he heard a fist slam into the door. _Star's room, _Soul thought. He watched the door strained under Black Star's assaults before it became silent again—then the man roared and kicked the wall in frustration. Soul turned away from it and made his way to the lounge, finding Clay sprawled on the couch and Ox sorting through some movies.

"Afternoon, Soul," Ox greeted when he noticed him. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah. Thanks. Where's Kilik?"

"Kitchen," Clay mumbled. "Cookin' us some grub. Hopefully it isn't one of his own recipes, I'm starved…"

Soul looked outside and, with one last glance at both men, made his way out. Kidd was navigating—the man hardly left the captains quarters unless Sid called him out of it. Soul made his way to the edge of the boat with more haste than he knew was necessary. He looked out at the water, searching the tide for a familiar head of blonde.

"Maka?" He called. "Hey, Maka!" He called her name out again but nothing happened. She never took this long to respond, he thought with worry. What if something happened to her? He'd seen how viciously that other mermaid had attacked Maka—did mermaids kill each other? Soul ground his teeth, his hands clenching and unclenching. No way, before he blacked out he'd seen the others gather around to pull them apart. So she was safe, he told himself firmly, he didn't need to freak out. She was good and he was just being excessively protective.

"She told you her name, didn't she? She must trust you a lot," Sid said, startling him from his racing thoughts. Soul looked at him as he approached, hands buried in the pockets of his khakis. "Mermaids don't give their names out so easily. They're special to them, the only thing they remember from their past lives."

"How long until we dock?"

"A week at most," Sid replied.

A week. That was not _nearly _enough time. Soul turned back to the ocean, feeling bitter. He understood what Harvar meant now, the irony about it all. He knew what he needed to do to keep her, he knew that he had to take that risk and see if it was true. He had to follow her into the water and hope he would not drown—he had to literally risk his life for that girl.

_You'll be mine, _she whispered in his mind again.

He wanted to be.

"Be careful around Harvar," Sid told him.

Soul flicked his eyes to him.

"He's sore about what happened yesterday, how that mermaid brought you to us," Sid looked at him seriously. "Harvar's brother was killed by a mermaid. He never let that go, it was one of the reasons he came to hunt with us in the first place."

"He wants revenge," Soul summed up flatly. "He didn't hurt her, did he?"

Sid tensed. "No."

Soul looked at him sharply. "Sid."

"…He _tried_."

Soul turned around but Sid grabbed his shoulder, feeling muscle harden with fury. But he did not let him go, he forced him back and gave him a stern look when he tried to argue. "I stopped him before he harmed her! Don't go looking for a fight, Soul," he told him gruffly. "Or I'll put you _both _in place and it won't be pretty. That's the type of man I was raised to be!"

Soul sneered nastily but turned back to the ocean, the sight of it cooling his temper. Figured Harvar would try to hurt her; she'd told him once he scared her. Because she could read his intentions or something—something about being able to read people, their souls. He did not quite understand how but she told it to him with utmost conviction and he believed her. Anything was possible at this point, he just found it easier to take it all in stride than try to pick it apart.

"I'll leave him alone," Soul told Sid when he didn't let him go. "But if he starts something, don't expect me to walk away."

"Just as long as you don't get blood on the deck. Takes a damn long time to scrub it out."

Soul only snorted, returning his sights to the ocean and wondering what she was doing right now and if she missed him as much as he missed her.


	5. Chapter 5

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlett_

He didn't see her again.

He stood outside on deck for hours when he had nothing to do; sometimes went to his room and gazed out his window there so he was not so obvious. But she never appeared and he there was a sort of weight in his chest, something like grimness mixed with frustration mixed with aching mixed with depression. There were two reasons, he deduced, for why she had not appeared again: one of them was she was afraid because of what happened to the other mermaid and the other was he was leaving and it would make things a lot easier if she just stopped meeting with him so much.

He knew with an awful clarity that it was the second reason.

Goodbyes were hard.

He would know.

Like Harvar would scare her away like that, anyway. Despite her delicate appearance, she was tougher than iron and built for a war. When he'd asked her if she'd drowned any men of her own, she'd given him this look—dangerous amusement—and he promptly shut up. She was not one to be tampered with, he knew then and there. Her offhanded talk of drowning him in the beginning held some truth after all. She _could _have killed him anytime but by some miracle she hadn't and he was still alive and she'd saved him more times than was considered cool and somehow, despite all his sharp retorts and smart-ass remarks, she _still _wanted him.

_Be mine, _she sang in his mind.

He would follow her into the water even if she didn't sing.

That was the irony of his life.

And then there was that uncool bad luck of his, as he stood on the edge of the dock while everyone else unpacked. He already had his duffel bag by his feet, hands jammed into the pockets of his jacket as the day was cloudy and gloomy—much like his mood. He could hear Sid and Kidd discuss about splitting their earnings behind him. Soon he would pick up his pay and leave the sea. He'd have to never look back. There was no way he could fit in another year, no matter how much he begged Sid, and there was no way a regular boat would ever take him that close to mermaid territory without breaking a few laws.

"Yo, Soul!" Kilik shouted, bringing his attention away from the sea to the cook. "Clay, Star and I are planning on going to the pub after this! You in? You look like you need a drink," he added with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah! Just gimmie a minute," he nodded and turned back to the sea for one last look. The ocean was tame today, the wind rippling the surface and picking up the tides. He could hear them crash on shore, foam white dragging back in and flowing out continuously. He heard someone call his name and he looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Clay waving at him to hurry up. But no one looked his way.

_"Soul!"_

He looked back out to sea, his heart picking up. Nothing. Great, now he was _imagining _her, he scowled. He'd just picked up his duffel bag when he froze, staring down between two planks. He stared into twin bright green eyes and then he slowly looked up to where Sid and Kidd were—where Harvar was, browsing through his phone with Ox leaning on the wall beside him, yawning into his hand.

A very average scene.

He hoped his poker face would brave through.

"Stay there," Soul hissed at her. "Don't move, just _stay there!" _And he grabbed his bag and quickly walked off the dock. He did not spare a glance at Harvar and neither the man to him although Ox cast a grim look between both of them.

"Soul!" Sid shouted, freezing him mid-step. "Where are you going? Unless you want me to keep your share, get your ass over here!" He laughed.

_Shit, I forgot!_Soul cursed but headed back quickly and hoped Sid wouldn't make too much talk. The captain counted the money in front of him and grinned at Soul's surprise. "Five thousand! We hit jackpot with the mermaid!" His smile was rather grim but Soul understood there was nothing that could be done about it now. "Spend it wisely."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Good luck out there," Sid told him. "Don't be a stranger, either, stop by sometime!"

Soul nodded. He looked at Kidd and the man smiled at him. "It was a pleasure working with you, Soul, you should consider joining the DWMA. They need men like you in their forces."

"Yeah, that's one option."

"Just make sure to collect 100 impure souls before the deadline," Sid advised. "DWMA is very strict about deadlines."

Soul sighed. "I hate deadlines."

"You and I both," Kidd added just as wearily.

"But it's nothing I can't handle... it's just 100 souls."

"That's what they all say," Sid snorted.

Soul smirked in return and took a step back, already waving at them. "Just watch, I'll get all 100 by the end of the year easy! I'll see you guys later, I gotta' go. The guys are waiting for me," and they bid their goodbyes hastily and Soul finally got away from them. When he was sure no one could see him, Soul ran around the back where he knew the shoreline was at; catching sight of Kilik and the others hanging around the boardwalk that'd lead to the pub just down it. But, before they could see him, he ducked down to the edge of the boardwalk, tossing his duffel bag on the sand and sliding down until he reached the edge, where water and sand met.

Here went nothing.

"Fuck! _Fuck _that's cold!" Soul shuddered as he wadded through the water. Once underneath the boardwalk, he searched for any sign of her. "Maka? Hey, Maka!" He called out and stopped when he saw something appear beneath the rippling waves. He squinted and gasped when she suddenly burst out of the water, squealing out his name and throwing her arms around him before he could even utter hers. He staggered back and nearly lost his footing but managed to stay upright, holding her for the first time—feeling her skin beneath his hands, cold but as soft as he imagined it'd be. She smelled like the sea and something else—something impossibly sweet—and he tightened his arms around her and pressed his cheek against the side of her head.

"I had to see you one more time!" She rushed into his shirt. "Before I go!"

Soul tightened his arms around her. He had her there, in his arms, he was not letting go for a long time. "Wait a second, why so soon?"

"You're leaving," Maka mumbled, looking up at him reluctantly. He looked down, into her sad green eyes, and decided he'd have to muster up the balls to follow her into the ocean within the next twenty four hours. Or twenty seconds. "Soul?"

"Come with me," he told her and added before she could protest, "Just got a few hours. You can do a few hours, right? I'll bring you back before the sun breaks," he coaxed and tightened his grip around her. "Just for tonight," he told her. She looked hesitant, definitely unnerved by the idea of leaving the sea for something that was so foreign and strange and absolutely dangerous to her. "Maka…"

"J…just the night!" she mumbled and he grinned.

"So, how does this human thing work?" Soul asked as he backed up with her in his arms. She helped him, guiding him so he didn't bump into any of the rocks or wood foundations. "Do you just like… suddenly grow legs or something?"

"You'll see, just keep walking!" Maka told him and rolled her eyes when he grumbled. "I don't know myself, Soul, all I know is that if I touch land, I change!"

"Does it hurt?"

"What did I just tell you?" Maka snapped.

"It was just a _question_, no need to bite my head off!" He grumped and rolled his eyes when she huffed at him. But she couldn't hide the smile from him even if she tried. When he reached the edge again, Soul let her go and pulled himself out. He sat on the edge and reached down for her and when he gripped her and pulled her out he saw what she meant. The instant he placed her on the sand, it was as if the skin that made up her tail disintegrated. It slipped off her like silk and then before him were two very human legs—two impossibly sexy long and sculpted human legs.

This was just _not _fair, he thought blankly.

"Uh," he coughed, quickly averting his eyes. "Can you walk?"

Maka got on her knees tentatively. He stood up as she tried to but her legs shook and she ended up plopping back down on the sand. Soul shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her, muttering about just carrying her until she learned. She pulled it close to her, inhaling his spicy scent, and watched him bend down to pick her up. She did not weigh as much as he thought she would and although he had trouble juggling her and his duffel bag, he managed.

Then another problem arose.

The guys. The pub.

_Aw, shit._

He needed a ride and any other time this would not be a problem. Except how was he supposed to explain _Maka? _He knew they were still rather unsure of how to deal with the fact that he caught the interest of a mermaid. They acted like they weren't affected by it but Soul was aware of their troubled glances. His eyes caught Sid getting to a rented car from across the parking lot and, without any more thought on it, Soul ran to him before he could leave. He frightened the man nearly half to death when he suddenly appeared at his window.

"Jesus, Soul, what is…oh no," Sid stared at the girl in his arms, smiling cheerfully at him. "No, no! Soul, you did _not _just take her with you! No, put her back! She can't live out here like us, you idiot, she'll die if she's out for too long!"

"I know that!" Soul said, aggravated. "It's just for tonight!"

Sid stared. "Boy, are you stupid or are you retarded?"

Soul glared. "Neither, _Captain_, just cut me a deal and take me back to my place before anyone sees. Like _Harvar_," he hissed and Sid pressed his lips together disapprovingly. "Look, I have a plan, okay? Just go with it. Sid, I know what I'm doing!" He held his stare sternly. "I just need to figure something out first."

Sid held his stare for a second longer before he sighed and muttered, "Get in the fucking car!" Soul grinned. He tossed his duffel bag on the floor and opened the door with some difficulty, placing Maka inside first. He tossed his bag in the back and rounded the car until he was inside on the other side—and Maka, trembling, scooted closer to him. Soul zipped up the jacket so she wasn't so cold, aware of Sid watching them from the rear view mirror.

"She has until sun break," Sid told him once they settled in. "I've read my fair share of mermaid folklore. If she was taken out at the break of dawn, she has until sundown. If she was taken out at sundown, she has until dawn. That's how it works."

"So, is that _right _on dawn or—?"

"Soul, if the sun breaks over that horizon," Sid met his eyes gravely. "She dies."

Soul swallowed and looked down at her. Maka noticed and offered him a tiny, happy, smile in return. He had his motorcycle parked inside the garage at his apartment so he had a mode of transportation. But she already looked rather antsy in the car, pressing to him when Sid started to back out. The motorcycle would either traumatize her or exhilarate her, Soul thought. He hoped for the latter.

They would have left immediately had Kilik not caught sight of him in the car.

"Hide her!" Sid barked.

"Lay down," Soul quickly told her and hid her head with a stray jacket of Sid's. She grumbled, he could feel her pinching his thigh at his rough treatment, but if the guys even caught sight of her, he'd be so dead trying to explain everything.

"Hey, man, thought you were gonna' come with us to the pub?" Kilik asked and Clay ran up, too. Black Star was slower, rubbing the back of his neck and meeting his eyes warily.

"Yeah! You pussying out Eater?" Clay grinned toothily. "I wanted to see if I could beat you at drinking! I've gotten better now!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Soul smirked at him. "Nah, I'm heading out early. I've got some stuff to deal with at home."

"Maybe next time then?" Kilik said, hopefully.

"Yeah, next time. Later, Clay, Kilik…" Soul looked at Black Star and gave him his signature grin. "Star. Better shut Clay up for me."

Black Star lightened up, seeing forgiveness in his friends eyes, and grinned. "You bet'cha!"

"Yo, hey, you better use those!" Clay winked at Soul and motioned to his duffel bag with a waggle of his brows. He rolled his eyes. That man was incorrigible. "_Before _they expire," he smirked and Soul glared in reply—probably a little too aware of Maka's breath on his thigh.

"Are we going or aren't we?" Sid grumbled, sending all his underlings the evil eye. "I've actually got things to do!" So after another few minutes of rambunctious laughter and promises to hang out sometime next week, Sid drove off and Soul let out a relieved breath.

"I don't think anyone noticed her."

"If they had, they would've said something," Sid told him just as Maka popped back out, fixing Soul with a huffy look. "That's just the type of men they are!"

"Why did you hide me?" Maka demanded.

Soul rose a brow. "You really want me to explain to them why I'm taking a mermaid home with me? They'd wanna' come just to interrogate you like Ox did last time." At her wince, he added, "Plus, knowing Clay, he'd pass it onto Harvar. Guys got a big mouth."

"No doubt," Sid sighed. "Same place, Soul?"

"Same place."

Maka glanced up at Soul curiously, his strong jaw and his smooth cheeks. She wondered how he got it like that, so smooth and slick, when other men always had the beginnings of a beard. Her hands reached up to touch him despite herself. He glanced down at her but let her caress his cheek curiously—then snorted when she prodded the buttons on his jacket, touched the seat of the car, dug her toes into the plush carpet. She was so mystified by everything that when they arrived to his apartment, she looked reluctant to leave the car only because she hadn't touched everything yet and she had so _many _more questions.

"Good luck with her," Sid chuckled when she slid her hand over the body of the car with shining green eyes. "She's a curious one."

"Never been out of the sea before, it's an experience," he dryly told him and watched him drive off. Soul looked back down at Maka and she looked up, beaming. He stared at her for five more seconds before he looked at the sky and figured this was probably the worst idea in the history of worst ideas only because he didn't think his self-control was that great and temptation had already made him his bitch…

"Oh! What's that? That black thing!"

"The trashcan?"

"What's a trashcan? Is it like the treasure chests we have?"

"Pfft," Soul snickered. "You're not gonna' find any treasure in there unless you're a hobo."

"What's a hobo?"

"A homeless person."

"Why are they homeless?"

"Cuz they're lazy?"

"But you're lazy and you have a home."

"No, I mean—gah, can you just shut up for a second?" Soul muttered and groaned when she pulled on his hair and growled for him to stop being a jerk. She caught onto their lingo quick, Soul noticed mildly, she had been using more and more of their modern words the longer she hung around the boat although she was still iffy on the curse words; not necessarily understanding how to use them and at what appropriate times...like now.

"Oh, fuck me!"

"No, Maka, shut up. You're using it wrong!" Soul winced when she yanked on his hair again and demanded to know why. He dropped his duffel bag on the living room floor as she marveled his otherwise plain apartment. "Because you don't say that…like, _now_. You say that when you're uh I don't know…surprised beyond belief?"

"I am surprised beyond belief," Maka told him, seriously. "So fuck me."

This was, Soul thought numbly while Maka happily repeated the obscene phrase, possibly the _worst _idea in the history of worst ideas. Soul hefted her in his arms when he felt she was slipping and made his way to the bathroom, flipping the toilet seat down and sitting her on her. She wobbled a little, distracted with trying to look at everything inside with big eyes.

"Wait here while I get you something to wear," he said and she nodded, thoroughly distracted with the towel hook. He shook his head but let her continue her self-tour. He raided his closet and drawers for anything that might fit her but only found a pair of boxers he'd shrunk in the dryer once and never tossed out and one of his shirts. He figured the shirt would be alright and he hoped the boxers fit since she was really a tiny thing, now that he thought about it. He had been walking to the bathroom when she suddenly appeared at the door frame with her cheeks flushed from exertion and her legs gaining strength…

Bare-assed naked.

His jaw slacked and his nose bled a little before he regained his wits.

"Gah! Dammit, Maka, put the jacket back on!" He flushed a furious red and shoved his shirt over his eyes to shield himself from her. "Actually, put this on!"

"No!" Maka shouted back, wrinkling her nose at the shirt and boxers he tossed at her. "They feel weird and they make my skin itch! I don't want to!"

"You can't run around naked!"

"Why not?"

"Because…because it's not lady-like, alright? And what if someone sees you?" He sputtered and she leaned off the door frame, more confident on her feet. It had taken some getting used to but she had managed to get the feel for walking and, from observing how Soul walked, she copied his movements and found it wasn't too hard. Her legs were not weak, they were just untrained, she saw. And she had always been a fast learner!

"Who would see me?" Maka challenged him and then took her first tentative few steps into the hallway. "Ah! L-look, I can walk! Look, look, Soul! I'm _walking!_"

Soul exhaled as she squealed, watching her beam and take another step with affection softening his eyes. He smiled at her, knowing this otherwise boring action was something of a life achievement for her. He had been about to shove the shirt over her head when she suddenly clung onto him, her body pressing against his as she drew closer to his face.

"I've never felt so happy before," she whispered against his jaw and he dropped the shirt on the floor, staring at the wall with wide, nervous eyes.

"Th-that's nice! Uh, ah, here! Put this on!" Soul gripped her shoulders and pushed her three feet away from him. He fumbled for the shirt on the floor, barely able to keep himself from staring at her thighs and pulled his shirt over her head and ignored her squirming and whining. "Dammit, Maka! Put the damn thing on!"

"No, dammit!"

"Oi, watch it!"

"What? _You _use it all the time!"

"That's me! I'm cool enough to use it! You're not! So—_dammit_, Maka, put the fucking shirt on before I make you!"

"MAKE ME DAMMIT!"

"MAKAAAA!"

He crashed into the wall when she slipped out his arms and tripped him. Soul cursed, clutching his stinging nose. He sharply looked to the living room, finding her making her way to the window with a smug hum under her breath, kicking away the boxers on the floor. And like _hell _was he going to let her stand there and show the world her goods. He ran to her before she could push the curtains aside and tossed her over his shoulder and tossed her unceremoniously on the couch, ignoring her furious glare to stick the shirt in front of her.

"You are you going to put this on," Soul told her, dangerously, "Or you're going back into the ocean!"

Maka gasped and sent him a reproachful look. "You wouldn't do that!"

"Try me," he sneered. He waggled the shirt in front of her and she looked at it intensely for a second before viciously ripping it from his hand. She reluctantly held it and then blinked when she realized there were four holes and it was weird and she had no practice with such things. Soul sighed at her stubbornness to not ask for help and helped her himself, fitting it through her head and letting it roll down her body until it covered all the necessary parts.

"Ugh," Maka grumbled. "It _itches!_"

"You'll get used to it," he told her, tone considerably softer. "Just don't go out like that, alright? There's a law against streaking, you can get arrested for it."

"St…streaking?" Maka asked, wide-eyed. "Is that being nude?"

"_And _running through public places," he half-grinned. "Don't do it."

Maka pondered this, pondered _everything _she saw as Soul told her he'd be back. She clutched the material of his shirt in her hand and then let her fingertips graze over the smooth leather of what she was seated on. She believed Soul called it a couch. There were so many things she didn't know about this dry world and Maka didn't like not knowing. She knew everything about the sea, knew the stories and knew the history behind them. She practically knew everything that lurked in the sea—even the most historic of creatures, creatures they themselves were not sure existed anymore because the waters were too dark, too deep, and too cold for them to survive in.

But this, this was all _new_. This was all so painfully new to her and, although there was a pleasure in learning, it still irked her and embarrassed her not to know. She would need books, she decided, she could read as there were stone tablets that witches left behind and her kind had teachers who knew the language of this land and taught them strictly. She would not understand some things, she understood, but it was nothing she couldn't learn in time! She prided herself in being one of the sharpest in her family of sea maidens, she would not disappoint!

"Hey, don't think too hard, you'll hurt yourself," Soul teased her when he returned and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're lucky we're on land or I would have spit water at you!"

"Ha ha," he sarcastically said. "Too bad for me." He sat down beside her, sinking into the couch with a long blow of breath. Maka watched him for a second, watched his body go lax and his eyes close and his chest rise and fall slowly. She shifted so she was kneeling and then crawled to him, frowning when his eyes popped open.

He sprung away from her, stammering out something about space and needing a break, and Maka frowned. Did he not like her? Was there something wrong with her? Maka watched him scoot away from her with troubled eyes. She knew she wasn't as…_filled out _as the others but…he surely liked her, right? She felt it, inside, that desire to be with him but maybe it only worked one way? Maybe it was just her and he…wasn't…

"What's wrong?" Soul asked, noticing her downcast eyes.

"…Do you like me?" She asked and the question took him by surprise.

"Wh…what?"

"Do you like me?" She repeated, firmer and fumbled with the tip of her hair. "Because you don't…_look at me._"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't look!" She repeated, frustrated. "Am I not…what you want?"

_Oh, _Soul realized dumbly. _Right. She's a mermaid... _She must be used to men succumbing to her, to men starting wars because of her beauty. How long, he wondered, must she had been out in sea just waiting for him? Waiting for someone to come along and take her away from that, away from all that violence?

"I know I'm not…that big…but um…" She mumbled, bowing her head a little more as she fidgeted.

"Idiot," Soul smiled fondly and reached over to place a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, eyes sad and troubled, and he tugged her a little. She complied and crawled over to him and curled up on his chest.

"It's not you," he told her, "It's just weird to see a girl walking around naked like that. Plus, over here, it's rude to stare," he grinned a bit when she nodded, storing that information to memory. "I thought you'd, I dunno, hit me again if I looked or…"

"Touched?" and then her face was too close to his and he realized just how close she was, able to feel her knee part his legs and her hands slid down his chest temptingly. Her hair had dried now, a tousled ash blonde mess down her shoulders, and her skin was so _soft _and her eyes so _green_. Soul's breath began to labor as she settled on his lap, her knees squeezing his waist. She fingered his shirt curiously for a second before she leaned down and pressed her ear to his chest.

"…It's fast," she observed and he cleared his throat, looking at the ceiling to hide his warm cheeks.

"Y-yeah…"

"I like you," she told him quietly. Soul looked at her and she shifted, her eyes meeting his strongly. "I know it's you. I feel it, inside."

He reached up and stroked her hair, feeling the soft skin of her neck and watching her arc to him like a purring cat. She gripped the sides of his shirt, her legs squeezing him and her breaths starting to heavy with every stroke. He felt his throat dry when she made a little noise in the back of her throat, his hand massaging down her back until he reached her thighs, where he felt the hem of his shirt and felt the swell of her bottom, inviting and softer than anything he'd ever felt before. Her skin was like satin, he decided, and he wanted to feel all of it.

"I think," he began with a small smile. Her lips rested on his jaw and she drew one hand up to caress his neck. "I think I do, too." His hand slid back up before he got carried away and he brought her into a tight hug, burying his nose in the hollow of her neck. "A lot more than I should."

Maka wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him closer, her cheeks pink and her smile bright.


	6. Chapter 6

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlett_

_"Guh, don't do—!" _Soul bit into the back of his hand, his eyes squeezed shut and his nerves shot. He felt her with torturous intimacy, her wet and hot mouth and the way her tongue wrapped around him and she sucked—sucked hard, forcing out groans and curses. He breathed out shallowly when she finally let him go, her tongue running down the length of his cock curiously as he did everything he could to not buck into her mouth again.

She had woken him up that way, her hand massaging his crotch and her mouth by his ear, whispering that he had called her name in his sleep and then something funny happened down there—something tented his pants, something that when she touched it made him moan and call her name louder. She liked it, liked his moans and pants, so she kept doing it.

He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. And he would keep in mind to do it more often so stuff like this happened—her curious hand reaching inside of his pants, holding his erect member in her soft and warm hands and squeezing it, torturing him as he let her experiment to her hearts content. She'd actually smacked him when he tried to back away. Really, he had no problem with her playing around his dick, he'd let her do it more often if she wanted, but her teasing was really starting to make him hurt. Whenever he reached that longed for precipice of pleasure, he was always shoved away from it when she let him go and smiled that deceptively sweet smile of hers.

He had a feeling she knew what she was doing to him; that lift at the edge of her mouth—almost a smirk but not quite—told him so.

"You're really hard," she said and he nearly whimpered. Her stupidly innocent comments, he wished she'd just not say anything so he didn't feel so pushed to the edge. "Like a rock," and she kissed the top of his head and he ground his teeth, his entire body tensing. She gripped the base of his cock and then let her tongue slid up it again almost casually. She fixed his dick with a hard look and then she looked up at him, how he breathed hard through his teeth and gave her dark heated looks that made her toes curl, and her hand slid up his length slowly—pumping it up and down and gauging his expression, slowing down and speeding up, all the while watching the different faces he made.

"Hnnng, shit! No, no more!" He wheezed out, grabbing her wrist to stop her torture.

"But," she faltered. Her hand squeezed his cock tentatively and he hissed, a groan escaping him. "It feels...good, right?" She asked him awkwardly and he held her uncertain gaze for a second before he loosened his grip on her wrist and nodded his head mutely. She smiled back at him and he stifled a sigh, hoping this wouldn't make him ache anymore than he already was. He was throbbing and all he wanted was relief, something that Maka sensed and tried to alleviate by pumping her hand up and down like he had mentioned before. She realized, as she stroked him, that faster she did it…the more he groaned and the more his hips thrust into her hand enticingly. Maka rubbed her hand faster, squeezing him and watching his head fall back again and his chest heave.

Christ, she was jerking him off and she probably had no idea, Soul thought hazily. He reached down and grabbed her hand and before she could scold him again, he guided her up his cock with more ease. She followed his motion, quicker and quicker as he moaned.

"Your mouth," he groaned out.

Maka flicked her eyes back down and smiled, sliding his impossibly hard length into her mouth. She squealed when he gripped her hair and forced her down on him. She pulled her head up before she could gag—that had happened before and Soul had had nearly stopped her exploring right there in his worry—and sank back down as much as she could and then did that faster and faster as his fingers tangled in her hair and kept her in rhythm.

"_Maka_," he panted and she groaned and he cursed, shutting his eyes.

She squeezed her thighs together, unfamiliar with the sticky warmth she felt down there. It ached for his touch—for any touch, she hazily realized—and she groaned again. He suddenly sat up and Maka blinked when he pulled her off him, his hand taking over. Maka reached to help him but only managed a few pumps before he came—strings of white hitting her chest, her hand, and he flopped back on the couch with a relieved breath and she touched the sticky mess he'd left behind with wide eyes.

"It's salty," she mumbled and his eyes shot open again, falling on her fingers as she licked them off one by one.

"Oi, don't go—go eating it or whatever," he snapped, flushing furiously when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Seriously, don't!"

"I'm just curious."

"You're _always _curious," he sighed but smiled. "You're too curious for your own good."

Maka got on her knees and rested her cheek on his thigh as he sank into the couch again. She bit her lip at the ache that had developed, and only grown worse, between her thighs. She never felt anything like it but when she shifted or squeezed her thighs tightly enough, some relief came and it felt good—_so good._She groaned and closed her eyes, rubbing her thighs together as moisture trickled down the inside of her thigh. Her fingers tremulously reached down and she touched the part that ached, the sticky wetness that had collected there and let out a shallow breath as her fingers stroked over her clit.

"Ngh," she grunted and did it again and this time dared to slip a finger inside. Her back arched and she gasped, biting her lip to keep in any more noises. It felt good, she swallowed and took in a quick breath, it felt _really _good.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Soul asked, noticing her weird shifting and tiny mews. She looked up, eyes cloudy and hot, and he felt himself harden all over again when she whined and he saw her hand was between her legs.

"It feels weird," she said, frustrated. "Between my legs. But when I touch it," she sucked in air, cheeks flushing with pleasure. He stared. "It feels good."

_Huh, she doesn't even know when she's getting herself off, _Soul thought and grinned at the thought of teaching her something new again. He reached down for her and pulled her on the couch, pushed her until she was sitting with her back against the armrest and her legs tightly closed. She looked at him, a green darker than he was used to, and he pried her legs apart and took a look at the problem she spoke of—the pink wet flesh that made his mouth water.

"You're soaked," he said huskily and she gripped the hem of her shirt and pushed it down to cover herself, her face reddening. But she quickly lost the will to shield herself from his hungry eyes when his hand reached between her and stroked her like she had been, the pad of his thumb massaging her clit and making her skin crawl and her toes curl. She arched, a loud moan ripping her throat, and he felt it resonate right in his loins—setting them aflame, desire and want mixing to form a toxic mixture that had any thoughts except her draining from his mind.

_"Soul,"_ she moaned and bit her lip, her hands reaching up to grab a perky breast. Eyes opened half-liddedly and she gripped the edge of her shirt and yanked it off her—throwing it away, relishing the way the cold air hit her nipples and hardened them and how with every pant of Soul's, it brushed her core and added to her pleasure. _"Ngh, more! Soul!" _She pleaded and she squirmed when he gripped both her legs and pushed them toward her head, revealing her tight pussy to him in all its glory.

"Payback for earlier," he slurped back his drool, staring at her ready and wet folds. He would live up to his nickname now, he thought with wicked glee, with much gusto. "Don't go down on me without asking, it makes me act uncool," he told her and dove down.

"OH!" She gasped, bucking her hips into his face involuntarily. She gripped her legs from behind her knees and pulled them back until they were by her ears, spreading herself for him as he pushed his tongue between her folds and made her eyes roll to the back of her head. She had never felt such pleasure in her life—no one had ever told her he could make her feel like this, so lost and anxious and needy for him, no one told her how good this would feel. They only told her how it was used to procreate, Maka whimpered when he lightly used his teeth, no one ever said how good it would feel to do it. It wasn't a boring ritual at all: her blood pulsed in her ears and her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, her body completely under his command that it almost embarrassed her—just how easily he could take her over, how easily she'd let him.

"Mmm, _Soul_," she crooned, gripping his hair like reigns and rubbing her pussy against his mouth as he ate her out. She squeezed one of her breasts just so she had something to center her, to bring her down from the sky, and then his hand reached up and squeezed a pert tit and she lost her focus again, throwing her head back and squirming under him.

Soul grunted as a leg came back down beside him, her knee digging into the side of his head. He gripped it and pushed it away, running his tongue over her and hearing her moan again. She trembled, her stomach taut and her thighs hard with the effort to keep from crushing him between her. He grinned against her, liking her resistance—_stubborn, stubborn Maka_, he chuckled darkly as he spread her with his hand and licked deeper, he'd break that stubbornness down soon enough.

And soon it did as she came with a scream, her nails digging into the leg that was still high in the air, her hips rolling against his mouth and her entire body shaking with the force of her orgasm. When she came back down, her body fell lax just as his had when he came, and she buried her nose in the skin by her knee as he cleaned her up and brought himself out from between her, that infuriating grin slapped on his face.

"_That's _how you do it," he remarked.

"Shuddup," she mumbled with a pout and he smirked.

She let her leg go, not really caring where it landed, but he made sure it didn't hit him as she welcomed him between her. He leaned over and, Maka watched through clouded eyes, kissed her. She stilled as his mouth moved with hers caressingly, his tongue warm and his lips soft, and then her eyes slid closed and she mimicked his moves, tasting herself on him and wanting more of him—to feel his lips move against hers always, feel his body slid against her own like now.

"Ah," she winced when she felt something hard rub against her. She looked between them and found their hips locked together, his cock slipping between her folds despite themselves. She felt everything, felt him hot and hard against herself, and she hummed appreciatively in her throat and arched her chest to him. She bit her lip when he kissed down her neck, his tongue creating a path down to her collarbone. His hand buried itself in her hair again, gently pulled her neck back so he had more access to the creamy skin, and she uttered a soft gasp when his teeth grazed down the swell of her breast.

"Soul," she sighed out when his mouth took a nipple and his tongue lavished the skin around it. She mewed when his teeth grazed over the skin of her breast and Soul paused, doing it again and feeling a shudder run down her body. She liked that, he realized with satisfaction, so he lightly bit into the swell of her breast and her chest heaved, her cries sweet and intoxicating.

Her voice in general, he thought foggily. He could listen to it all day—he wanted to. He bit her again and licked the spot after, his hands groping her sides and groaning when her hips pressed impatiently against his. He covered her mouth with his before she could say anything, slipping an arm under her and pushing his length up the wet slit of her pussy. It felt better than he thought it would and he did it again and groaned, sinking his teeth into her shoulder to shut himself up.

Maka grabbed fistfuls of his hair and bucked her hip, wanting to feel him inside her, she realized, she wanted him as close to her as possible.

"It might hurt," he huskily told her and she nodded a little. "Just take it easy, relax," he whispered against the corner of her lip. "And….crap."

Maka opened her eyes when he pulled back, looking down at her with a mixture of pain and frustration.

"What is it?"

"I need a condom…"

"A what?"

"A condom!" He repeated and pulled away from her. Maka scowled and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him back down on her. Her arms wrapped around him, keeping him trapped against her; his cock painfully wedged between them, so close yet so far from its destination. He already knew that look in her eye so he explained before she decided to pull on his hair again: "Look, a condom is what I use so you don't get pregnant."

"With child?" she murmured and thought about it for a second. "I don't mind."

He choked, shocked. "What? No—well—shit, Maka! I mean, I'm so not ready to be a dad and—Maka, don't look at me like that, you just want this right now," he groaned when she pouted and ground her hips against his encouragingly. He hissed and clenched his jaw. "You can't be serious…"

"Soul, I want you," she whined and he knew the world was against him when a beautiful girl wanted him so bad and he couldn't give it to her.

"Clay!" he suddenly said, hope returning. That bastard Clay had come through after all! He'd dumped a few condoms in his duffel bag before they left, cackling something about getting over his woes with some pussy. Well, he still had woes but he was not about to waste this chance with the object of his woes. "Wait here! Don't move!" He told her sharply and she huffed but obliged, watching him hurry into his room with a lazy grace. Her eyes particularly settled on his ass and she hummed as she thought about it a little deeper. He had a nice ass, she decided, firm and strong just like his shoulders, his hands. Her fingers twitched and she told herself she'd touch it when he came back.

Maka closed her legs and rubbed her thighs together, marveling the slickness she felt between them. She reached between her and hissed when her fingers touched her sensitive clit, the pads of her fingers rubbing soothingly to get rid of it. She softly moaned as she grew wetter, her fingers starting to soak with her essence the longer she toyed with herself.

When Soul came back after slipping on the accursed condom, he couldn't help but stare.

She was touching herself, squirming and panting, and he didn't think his dick could point any higher than it already was. He swallowed and approached her, watching her for a second before he teased her nipples with his hands. Her fingers reached further inside herself, a louder mew escaping her lips. Her eyes opened and she smiled up at him, a lustful smile that made his breath heavy again. He pulled her hand out from between herself and he settled himself back in place, her soft appreciative moans as he fondled her breasts and kissed her urging him on.

"Ready?"

"Mm."

He reached down between the first, his finger finding her tight entrance and slipping inside. She sucked in air and squealed, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. Then he wiggled in another and she hissed, faintly breathing out his name, and he stretched her out a little more, his lips caressing her neck and the supple skin of her collarbone; burning into his memory every sound she made, every choke of his name and how her body trembled beneath him, the slickness of her as he sank his fingers into her heat and easily slipped them back out. Maka wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing a bit.

"Soul," she groaned. "Now."

"You sure?" He grunted when she bit his jaw, let her tongue trace up until his ear.

"_Yes_," she sighed in his ear and he firmly told himself not to act uncool; not to do something stupid, like have his voice break because he couldn't describe how much he liked it when she did that.

"Ah!" Maka winced when she felt him at her entrance, slowly start to slid in. "Ngh, Soul, it's…" she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to relax as he told her, as he whispered in her ear while he pushed inside of her. She let out the breath she had been holding, a burning sort of sensation between her legs as he stretched her out to accommodate him, and he pulled out a little and pushed back inside and she gasped. He was completely inside of her now and she never felt so full or complete. Her nails racked down his back, dug into his skin and mixed pain with pleasure.

"Maka," he strained out. "You okay?"

"Uh huh," she managed to strangle out. "But it's…it's big…."

"Not a bad thing," he managed a slight grin.

"Nooo," she moaned with satisfaction, rolling her hips beneath him coaxingly._ "Move!"_

And he did. Maka was tighter than anything he'd ever felt, clenching down on him enough to nearly make him come. But he resisted, held back the urge to give into her heat as he pumped into her with a quickening pace. Her legs wrapped around his waist tightly and her hand gripped his neck, nails digging in, to crush their mouths together. He savored the way her mouth molded against his, fit so right, and then the moans that forced their way out of her throat and into his.

He moved faster when she impatiently growled and thrust deeper when she yanked his head back and laid open-mouthed kisses on the hollow of his neck. He felt the couch screech, hit the wall with the force of their movements, and she only arched beneath him and gripped the top of the couch—meeting his thrusts, her tits bouncing with the force of his bucks as he slowly brought them both to ecstasy. Maka tossed her head back, shouting out his name, and he bit down on her shoulder and growled out hers, eyes tightly shut, sweat running down his neck, feeling so close, so _close_—

"SOUL!" She screamed and he shuddered when she clamped down on him, milking him for all he was worth just as he came with her name on his tongue. His vision swamped out of focus for a few seconds before it came back to him, his muscles trembling as he managed a few weak thrusts before he collapsed on top of her. He shifted so his elbow rested on the couches arm rest and he could keep himself from squishing her.

She was dead to the world, basking in the post-sex glow without a care in the world. Her eyes lazily opened and she smiled almost goofily back up at him. It was enough to get some chuckles from him and he had been about to pull out of her when she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, her eyes suddenly rather hesitant.

"Don't, stay just a little longer," she let her arms wrap around him and her cheek pressed against his chest. "Just for a few more minutes."

He knew why and suddenly all his woes came back just like that. He nudged her a little, until she was the one on top and he was below. And then he wrapped his arm around her tightly, everything about her so achingly right, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck and wished she could just stay with him. Like this, until morning, until tomorrow and the next day and next year and maybe forever.

His eyes opened again and they strayed to the window, to the darkened sky outside. He had about three hours to figure out what he was going to do about this, Maka quietly dozing on top of him.

He had three hours to figure out if she was really worth drowning for or not.


	7. Chapter 7

**the delta sun burns bright and violet  
by.** _Poisoned Scarlett_

She sat on the couch with her cheek pressed against his ear, her hand absently playing with strands of his hair as he dozed quietly beneath her. She shifted and his hand instinctively tightened around her waist. Maka rose her eyes to the window, the crack of the curtains where she could see the dark sky.

Soon, she could feel it.

The sun was going to rise.

Maka dropped her hand to his neck and her lips trailed down to his jaw, closing her eyes. She would have to leave soon, Maka thought quietly, but would he truly follow her into the ocean? She opened her eyes and knew that was not the problem at hand. The problem was with her _singing_, the way it sometimes stuck in her throat or came out warbled and awful. She did not have the ease with it like the others; she had always had to try harder than them…

_I can't mess up this time, _Maka thought, troubled. _I have to sing…a-and he has to follow me down. _She had her doubts, of course. Medusa was a cunning witch and she had tricks up her sleeve. Maka knew that she needed to touch their lips together after her song concluded and drag him beneath the waves and touch the sea ground. He would not drown if he was the one and she would regain her humanity. But she was iffy about the details – Medusa had said sea floor so could she possibly just drag him under the shallow end and, if things went wrong, just as easily push him out?

Maka looked toward the window again and grimaced. Dawn was fast approaching and she still hadn't figured out the kinks in this plan. She tensed when Soul shifted beneath her and when she looked at him, she found his eyes were open and unclouded with sleep like she expected them to be.

"We gotta' go," Soul murmured and reached for the device that had captured her attention the most after their lovemaking. The thing he called a smart phone. "We have two hours," he told her and Maka nodded quietly.

Soul shifted beneath her and sat up, holding her to him. She slid off his lap and watched him rest his elbows on his knees and rub his eyes out. His hair was a mess, messier than usual, and her eyes ran down the curve of his spine; his back, strong and tanned from months of working on a hunters boat. He took a deep breath, shoulders rising, and glanced at her, moonlight hitting one of his eyes and illuminating it a bright red.

"I'm gonna' go change," he told her. "I'll bring a jacket for you."

"You're not going to force me into clothes again?" She asked and he snorted.

"You wouldn't put them on even if I tried," he quirked his lip up. Then his smile disappeared. "And you're going back to the sea so…"

Her eyes dropped and she heard him stand up. She shifted so she was sitting upright on the couch. She felt a different sort of cold here on land and it was different than when she was in the water. In the water, she supposed it was worse. Sometimes it felt like there was no way to be warm because the waters were naturally cold. Here, as Soul returned with his jacket, dropped it over her shoulders for her to hunker into it, she could feel warmth and it was glorious—how the air could be so toasty, her body actually _warm_.

"You ready?" Soul asked and she looked at him. They both came to a silent understanding right then and there and Maka looked down at her lap and took a breath. She could not mess up this time, she told herself, she needed to sing right; no awkward notes, no cracks in her song. It needed to flow just this one time, she thought with determination.

"Yes…let's go."

Soul poked his head out into the hall and checked both ways. Finding it clear, he grabbed her hand and led her down the hall. She let her eyes wander with great curiosity as he led them to where his motorcycle was parked and she stopped completely when they reached the stairs.

"I…can't," she stared at the stairs, timidly.

"Here, step down sideways like this," he held out his hand to her and helped her down one by one, smiling when she finally got the hang of it. She actually looked disappointed when the stairs ended so soon. He led her to his motorcycle after, both stopping before an oddly shaped figure (in her eyes) covered by some sort of tarp. She pulled the jacket closer around her as he grabbed the tarp and pulled it off, revealing a…she had no idea what to call it, staring at the glinting chrome and orange body of it. When Soul swung a leg over it, shaking out his ring of keys and picking out the right one, she still had no idea what it was or what he was doing or how that thing would take them to the sea.

Maka shifted on her feet when he motioned her over.

"You saw how I got on?"

She nodded.

"Copy me, I'll help you," he said and Maka looked down at the leather seat uncertainly. "C'mon, swing a leg—!" He figured he should have forced her into boxers when she swung a leg and he got a very nice shot of her in all her glory. But leaving her outside while he ran upstairs for a pair was out of the question: she'd get herself kidnapped or something and she wouldn't even know it, too busy admiring everything to care. She wobbled but he steadied her, seating her on the motorcycle safely. "Hold onto my waist and whatever you do, _do not let go."  
_

Maka nodded, swallowing. She wondered what would happen next as he turned back forward. He turned the key and Maka screamed when it roared to life, vibrating beneath her frighteningly. She clutched onto him tightly and shut her eyes, her teeth clenched shut to prevent any whimpers from escaping. When she felt his hand stroke her arms reassuringly, she relaxed, and hesitantly peeked down to find the motorcycle just humming beneath them; waiting.

"It's gonna' move now," he warned her. "It's okay, it's normal. Just close your eyes if you're too scared. Don't let go of me."

"Okay," she steeled herself and when he pushed forward, clutched him tightly. She felt them pick up speed and then pause again as the garage door clamored open. Maka peeked around his arm to see the street ahead, empty and dark, and then he pushed down the drive way and they were off, picking up speed quickly. The wind was cold, battering against her ears; loud but not nearly as loud as the motorcycle. She tuned her head to watch the scenery pass them by faster than she could process, the neighborhood still blanketed with the dark of night. She only saw shadows and the occasional wash of yellow light from the street lamps. But she could see a deep blue rise of the sea at the edge and she knew the sun would rise soon from there. It would only be a matter of time, she thought, and she cleared her throat and hoped her voice wouldn't fail her now when she needed it the most.

They arrived at the beach faster than Maka thought it would and Maka watched Soul look around carefully before he drove through the wrong side of the street and snuck inside the parking lot. He parked all the way towards the end, near the boardwalk, and turned off the bike. Maka couldn't really feel her legs when she managed to awkwardly slide off: she needed to hold onto Soul for a moment, trying to calm her beating heart.

"Shut up!" She snapped. She could feel him shaking with laughter.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were laughing at me!"

He only grinned and took her hand when she was better, pulling her closely to his side as they both walked onto the sand. He took a quick look around and, finding no one, led her to the side of the boardwalk; to a small area of sea that was walled by large boulders and rocks. He could hear the tide crash into them and he grimaced at the thought of how freezing the waters were at this hour.

"You better go in now," Soul said, glancing at the skyline. It was brightening but the sun had yet to break. "While you still have time—"

"_Well,_" another voice interjected, sounding idly interested. Soul felt his skin crawl at the hissing sound. "Would you look at that? You found him. The rejected pianist from a family of prodigious musicians."

Maka whipped her head in the direction of the voice, the infuriatingly familiar voice. Her eyes locked with sensuous golden. The woman smiled with more menace than she remembered, a monstrous growl coming from behind her. Maka darted her eyes to the figure that guarded the witch, the talons she could just see that clicked against each other impatiently. Maka grabbed Soul's arm and pulled him behind her, her green eyes flashing a violent green.

"_Medusa_."

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Medusa mused. "How long—two hundred, three hundred years?" She uncurled herself from her cross-legged position and stood up tall on the roof of the lifeguard cabin. "Or am I mistaken?"

"Two hundred and fifteen years I waited," Maka told her lowly, her voice darker than Soul had ever heard it. "I waited and I found him and I will _not_ give him up to you."

"Of course not," Medusa dismissed. "Although, I do have to ask him…are you sure you want to do this?" She smiled, deceptively. "Drown for her? She's drowned more men than you could imagine in cold blood—she's as treacherous as any other mermaid, as violent as any _Siren—!"_

_"_Don't you dare compare me to those vermin!" Maka spat.

"What did you call me?" The figure behind Medusa rumbled and Soul jerked back when the woman stepped into sight. She was certainly a sight for sore eyes, a disfigured and horrendous hybrid of woman and avian. He could see her talons claw and half of her pretty face contort with rage while the other looked as if it had been burned in a fire, the eye stretched out to reveal nothing but the white—her legs bent strangely, like that of a stance of a bird he later realized. She made an inhuman sound deep in her throat, something that had Maka squeezing his hand.

"Don't fret, Eruka," Medusa crooned, reaching over to stroke her hair. "She didn't mean it, did you, Maka?"

Maka glared but said nothing.

Medusa's eyes flickered back to Soul. "Scythe, a reapers weapon. You have so much _potential_, do you really want to throw your success away for this girl? You can become a prominent figure in the DWMA—scythes are especially valuable given their rarity—isn't that what you wanted all along? To prove your worth to your family?" She persuaded, holding his eyes with her knowing ones. "You _can_ earn the title of Death Scythe—but not with her by your side. She will slow you down—she has been trapped in the sea for more than a hundred years! There are things she will never understand, things she will never be able to do."

Maka clenched her jaw and dropped her eyes to the floor. She looked back up at Soul when she felt him squeeze her hand.

"I don't get what you're trying to do," Soul answered, flatly. "But whatever it is, don't bother. It's not gonna' work."

Medusa merely smiled pleasantly. "Success is what you have always longed for. I can give it to you!" She hopped off the roof and the Siren followed broodingly, keeping to the shadows. "Only _if_ you leave her where she belongs."

"With me? I'm all for it," he grinned viciously and Medusa sharpened her eyes.

"No," she hissed. "In the _sea."_

Maka tensed and took half a step back but Soul pushed her two steps forward, his arm coming around to wrap around her shoulder protectively. She looked up at him as he said, "I like her better with _me_."

"Are you really going to throw away this opportunity I'm giving you?" Medusa sneered, sounding truly affronted. "I can give you success—I can make you into the icon you've _dreamed_ of!" She urged, "and all I ask is for you to leave her in the ocean!"

"It sounds pretty cool and all but you were the one who just told me I have a lot of potential," Soul drawled. "So maybe it'll take me longer with this stubborn idiot by my side," he jostled her affectionately and she scowled openly, sending him a dark look he only grinned at, "But I'll get there eventually. That's good enough for me."

Medusa scrutinized them shrewdly for a second. Then she gave them both a condescending sneer and turned on her heel without another glance at them. "Suit yourself. You will never be able to impress your family anyway—they're disgusted with you," she smiled cruelly. "They will never be able to see you as their equal like you want. You'll always be the outcast of the family."

"Meh, they weren't that great, either," Soul shrugged and just because his mouth had no filter of any sort, added, "It could be worse. I could have hit every branch in the ugly tree on my way down like she did!"

"_Soul_," Maka choked and Medusa winced at the shriek the Siren released when she heard the jab at her appearance. "You _fucking idiot!"_

"Huh, you learn fast—egh!" He screwed his eyes shut when the Siren released another head-jarring shriek. He clamped his hands over his ears and Maka pulled him back quickly, eye shut in pain. Medusa only leaped back up on the roof. She disappeared without another word, dissolving into the shadows like witches do, and the Siren shot forward as if someone had cut its chain, raising her talons at Soul viciously.

"_I'll devour your soul for that, WEAPON!" _she snarled.

"MOVE!" Soul shouted, pushing Maka away. Maka just dodged past the furious Siren, gasping when Soul parried her slash with his scythe. He was pushed back by the sheer force but he managed to slow her enough to punch her.

"Your weapon!" Maka shouted. "Take it out!"

"Are you crazy—I can't do that!"

"What?"

Soul growled in frustration. "I've never fully transformed! I can't do it!"

Maka stared with disbelief. "What do you _mean_ you can't fully transform? It's illegal to hunt in the waters without being able to fully transform!"

Soul grinned briefly as he blocked another of the Siren's blows, this time letting his shoulder take the burnt of it. "They didn't know that!" He shoved the Siren away. "Until about a week in!"

"Oh, you really _are_ a fucking idiot!"

"Shut up!"

Maka grit her teeth, feeling absolutely useless. She needed to do something—_anything_ to help! But on land, she was nothing but a mortal. Maka looked over at the skyline, biting her lip when she saw it was becoming too light. The sun would almost break! She needed to do something quick! She looked at the water and her eyes hardened with determination.

"HEY!" Maka stood up and the Siren paused, turning to look over her shoulder. "Fight me you…um…ugly cunt?" Maka unsurely said and Soul felt his jaw slack in disbelief. He had no idea where she learned the last word but when he found out, he would _pummel_ that person into the ground for teaching her that.

"_ARGH! I'LL DESTROY THAT PRETTY BODY OF YOURS AND THEN HE WON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE!" _Eruka screamed and smacked Soul away, following Maka into the water when she ran. So blinded was she by her rage, she didn't realize she had fallen right where Maka wanted her—and by the time she did, backing away from the coming tide, Maka grabbed her by her long silver hair and wrenched her into the water, her face scrapping into the sand painfully.

"Ah—!" Maka gasped when a talon dug into her arm. Eruka growled at her, spitting out salt water and sand, and Maka shot her eyes to Soul. "Transform, Soul!"

"But—!"

"TRANSFORM!" Maka screamed and he gripped the end of his scythe and pulled it out, gritting his teeth against the pain, and when he saw blood wash up on shore from their fight, he thoughtlessly pulled the rest of his scythe from his body in a bright spark of light. Soul stared at the scythe that towered over him, the sharply curved blade that was about as dark as the blood that was being spilled before him. It was bigger than he imagined it'd be, yet light—fitting in his hand perfectly, the blade big enough to slice into a body three times his size.

"SOUL!"

He let the scythe swing down until the blade swiped the sand, his grip tightening as he prepared to attack. "Oi, ugly!"

"I AM NOT—!" Eruka choked in a crow and only had time to widen her eyes before the scythe swung up from the ground and beheaded her. Maka let her body go instantly, swimming back into the water with her eyes shut to shield the from the splatter of black blood.

Soul swung his scythe up so it rested on his shoulder, breathing hard and gazing down at the dead carcass of the Siren. She eventually became nothing but wisps of black; what was left behind being a bobbing red soul that cackled with the Siren's harbored hatred. He picked it up, squishing it a bit. These things were what the DWMA demanded in bulk, he thought, one down and ninety nine more to go before he could even _think_ of getting a job there. He grimaced at the thought of actually collecting 99 more of these suckers just to join.

"Soul."

He looked up in time to see Maka smile brightly. "You did it! You transformed!"

He glanced up at his scythe and smirked. "Yeah, about damn time, too." He paused suddenly. "Uh…how do you put it back? Do I just—!" And he clenched his hand over the handle and twirled the scythe. Maka watched as his scythe became one with him again; a spark of light that ended with him gripping his arm and grimacing against the slight pain he felt for forcing the weapon back into himself. "I'll work on that," he wheezed but straightened up and ignored the pain so as not to look anymore uncool in front of her than he already had.

"The sun is rising," Maka murmured to herself and forlornly looked back at Soul, who shook out his arm one last time. She had been about to bid him goodbye when he kicked off his shoes, grabbing the jacket she had thrown in her haste and stuffing the impure soul into it.

"What are you doing?" Maka asked, puzzled.

"What's it look like I'm doing? I gotta' follow you into the water, right?" Soul arched a brow at her surprise. "You didn't think that was all talk, did you?"

"But she's right, to an extent," Maka regretfully told him. "I've lived too long in the ocean. It's overwhelming, all of this you've shown me. And sh-she's right...there are some things—!"

"I want you with me," he cringed when his feet stepped into the freezing water. "It doesn't matter if you don't get some things. I still don't get math and that's been around for longer than both of us. So shut up and let's get this over with." Maka watched with wide eyes as he forced himself into the water, growling out expletives as he reached her. Once he was in up until his waist did he look at her, his teeth chattering and his expression miserable but determined. "Hurry up! It's freezing!"

"B-but—!"

He looked at her sharply. "You _do_ know what to do, right?"

"Y-yes, I just sing and then right before you go underneath the water, I kiss you and…then I take you all the way down, until we both touch the sea floor!" She stammered out, flustered.

"Alright, then, what're you waiting for? Sing!"

"Um…"

"What now?"

"About that," Maka laughed nervously. "Singing…I cannot really do it right…it comes out strange."

"Strange? Maka, don't tell me you can't sing!"

She looked at him with a guilty grin and, after a second of staring, busted out laughing.

"A mermaid who can't sing! Great! That's just great!" He snorted, deciding that _yes_ she was his soul mate. He came from a family of pure-breed musicians and she probably couldn't sing to save her life, judging from the look on her face. He couldn't _wait_ to introduce her to his parents, he thought sadistically. But singing was singing, he thought with amusement, and it didn't matter how awful it was. "Just sing, idiot," he told her with a lopsided grin. "It can't be that bad."

"You don't know that..."

"I'll find out right now."

"If you laugh, I will drown you for _real_."

"More like if you suck, we're screwed."

Maka bit her lip. "I won't, not this time…" Her face set with determination and she took a deep breath and looked at him. He tensed when he realized that her eyes, they were _glowing_. He didn't realize he was staring right into them until a wave hit him and nearly knocked him off his feet but when he looked back, she opened her mouth, and then even the violent tides didn't matter: he just saw her, her beautifully glowing green eyes and a hauntingly sweet song that drowned out the rough tides and the crashing waves and even the cold of the ocean.

_Get closer, _and he followed her blindly and when he couldn't touch the floor anymore, he swam and the further away she drifted, the faster he swum because now it was _urgent—_he _needed_ to get to her, to touch her, to be near to her and then he was, so close he felt her hands grip his shoulders to stop him and her eyes seemed to lose their captivating glow to allow him to look down, at the pink lips that mouthed words he barely heard over the sound of her voice echoing in his head—loud, demanding, sweet and heart achingly devastating—and then he crushed their mouths together and he was suddenly underwater.

That was when panic kicked in: he had not prepared himself at all—he hadn't even thought of taking a breath. His fingers dug into her arm and his eyes shot open in alarm. Water filled his mouth and he instinctively tried to pull away but she wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him crushed to her, and then his lungs ached too much for air—too much for breath—and he only struggled for a few more seconds before he inhaled.

And nothing happened.

The burning in his lungs disappeared as if he had taken a breath of air. The water felt almost warm now. The rough waves didn't matter—they rolled above them harmlessly. The fact that his hand could touch the sea floor and he didn't feel the urge to kick back up to the surface was unsettling but that didn't stop him from grinning.

Maka's tail swiped the floor, rising plumes of sand as Soul tried to figure out the physics of being able to suddenly breathe underwater. He looked back at her and flashed her a grin that made her laugh joyously—and then she choked, her eyes widening with shock, and she gripped her throat and released a horrified shout. Just like on land, her tail slipped off her as if silk, disintegrating in the dark waters into a iridescent powder that was swept away by the tide, and then she was kicking with two very human legs and she was shutting her eyes—drowning, Soul realized with a plunge of his stomach, she was _drowning. _

He shouted her name and grabbed her, using his feet to kick up off the floor. He nauseously thought that he would not be able to reach the surface on time—they were deep, he hadn't realized how deep until he was swimming up with her in his arms. He breached the surface after a few long seconds with a gasp and pulled Maka up as well, the few pillars of sunlight illuminating her pale face. She sucked in air greedily, coughing out sea water and dragging in rough breaths.

"I can't—swim!" She hacked out more water when she sunk back in the water and Soul cursed.

"Wait a sec—get on my back and hold onto me!" Soul told her and she did, for once fearing the ocean that had been her home for many long and sad years. She wrapped her arms around his neck and Soul swam back to shore, nearly tripping over his feet when he reached land. Maka stumbled beside him, grabbing onto him, breathing hard and looking back at the sea with something close to regret. But when she looked back at Soul, her face broke into one of happiness.

He barely had it in him to grin down at her: he collapsed beside his jacket, uncaring of the sand that was sticking to him uncomfortably. He closed his eyes, chest heaving. He felt Maka plop down beside him, coughing a little more and taking in some much-needed air as her heart settled.

"Fuck," he blew out a breath.

Maka looked at him curiously.

"...I'm hungry."

"Hungry?" Maka blinked. She looked around, finding nothing in sight except a long strip of shoreline before her and a long stretch of road behind her. "Where would you acquire something to eat here?"

"McDonalds."

"What's that?"

"Bad food," he stifled a groan and sat up. He frowned at the sand that stuck on his skin; it'd be a pain to get it all off and not drag it into his apartment. "But that's the only place that's open right now. There's one about ten minutes from here."

Maka frowned. "Why would you eat bad food?"

"Cuz I'm_ starving?_"

She crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "I don't want to eat bad food. I want _good_ food!"

Soul rolled his eyes. "You've never even tasted—eh," he squinted at her. "Fine. We'll go a good fast food place, only cuz you've never eaten a burger before."

"Ooh! A burger?" Maka cooed, her eyes shining. He felt his own soften at her adorable excitement. "I want one! What is it?"

"The food of the gods," he grinned and her eyes widened even more.

"_Really?"_

_"_No, you moron," he laughed when she shot him a dark look. He stood up and helped her up as well and then meandered over to his jacket, scooping out the red impure soul with a slight smirk. 99 more to go, he thought and figured he had more than enough time to collect them—even with Maka by his side. He shook his jacket of sand and placed it over her trembling, naked body. "But first we gotta' get you into some clothes."

"What? No!"

"Yes—hey, get back here! NO, MAKA, DON'T TAKE IT OFF!"

"It's _hot!_"

"MAKA, TAKE IT OFF AND I'LL THROW YOU BACK IN THE WATER!"

"No, you won't!" Came her distant reply, laughter mixing with her words, and he held back a sigh in exchange for a fond grin, chasing after her before she really _did_ take off the blasted jacket and flash the coming cars down the road. He caught up with her and closed the jacket with his hands, stumbling to a stop and ignoring her grumbling wiggling so he could zip it up.

"I'm serious, don't take it off," he scowled and she scowled back. "Jeez, we're gonna' have to get you used to clothes."

"Can I not just..." She paused, thinking, and then looked at him resolutely. "I will wear them when we are outside. But not in the house," she triumphantly told him and he stared, wondering if she actually thought she somehow won this argument. Naive girl, he thought with a crooked smile, he'd at least force her into some panties when they were at home. Maybe a bra, too, he added critically.

_Nah, not a bra, _he grinned. "Alright, whatever. But don't bitch when you're cold during the winter."

"_You're_ a bitch," she retorted and he stared back incredulously. She blinked back. "What?"

"Another thing," he ruffled her hair and smashed her cheek into his chest, steering her towards his motorcycle as she pouted, "You leave the cursing to _me_, alright? You'll never be cool enough for it," _or more like you'd end up being better at it than me, _he added mentally and smiled when she tried to argue—the ocean a distant hush in the background, its inhabitants a mere memory now.


End file.
